Let's not start sucking each other's blogs just yet: On Time's Person of the Year
Sunday, December 17, 2006 at 06:19AM by Charlie O'Donnell So Time picked you and me... the users, as its Person of the Year, holding out YouTube as its shining example of a community driven media revolution.
I have two reactions to this.
First, I don't need old media telling me I'm special. Like Jarvis wrote, it has always been us. Only now, it seems to be fashionable and profitable to say so. Old media giving us a pat on the back reminds me of that line in Pink Floyd's Animals:
"You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you
You'll get the chance to put the knife in."
So, to Time, I give a big fat thanks but no thanks... the same reaction I have to blogging "A-lists". We're just people, living out our lives and talking. That's not special, that's just real. Unfortunately, it took the web a long time to get this close to reflecting real life.
That being said, my bigger issue is that it really doesn't reflect real life for most people. Most people aren't blogging or posting on YouTube.
And, in the year where it became obvious that we weren't going to "win" in Iraq, I have to admit, that I feel a little sickened that we're being so self-congratulatory about taking over the web. We're nearling 3,000 US military deaths in Iraq, now more than the number of civilians killed in 9/11... and we're talking about... YouTube? Are you serious? PS... Newt Gingrich pointed out something interesting today... 60% of young Iraqi males are out of work. He suggested fixing things over there by instituting an FDR-sized civil works program. Instead of paying soldiers to shoot people who have nothing better to do than to shoot at us, how about paying citizens to fix their own country and go to work.
Look, I'm impressed and awed by user generated media as much as the next guy. I mean, hey, I work for an avatar company.
But, let's reserve this award for the year that bloggers and YouTubers end the War in Iraq, Save Darfur, rebuild New Orleans, address global warming (I'm going to bike into the city today, December 17th and it's going to be 62 degrees in NYC), push voter turnout over 80%, fix our education system, ban Paris Hilton from all media, start getting states to fall like dominos on gay marriage, or all of the above. Right now, I think we're still doing a little too much talking to ourselves to deserve the proverbial reach around. We still have a lot of work to do.
Reader Comments (5)
Mr. Rick Stengel,
It is really amazing to see how corporate media, that is to say YOU, twist information as you wish. Until Saturday 16th December, HUGO CHAVEZ was leading your person of the year poll by 35% next to his contender, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who had 21%. And now today Sunday, 17th December, you decide to erase all records on your webpage and proclame YOU (that is to say the general public) the Person of the Year for 2006!!! This is an outrageous move. How dare you offend your readers and public opinion in general this way! Is this the democracy and the unbiased standards you defend? What happened? Does nominating Hugo Chavez go against your editorial line that is dictated from the corporations that keep the money coming in? This is absolutely sick and it is an open offense to the dignity, intelligence and opinion of us all.
If you and your big buddies don't like Hugo Chavez, well too bad. Most the world LOVES him, like it or not (as shown on your poll results). His leadership, his social and political advancements, his proposals and projects and his positions against this capitalistic world that is going down the drain is surely promising and inspiring for all of us who think the world is sick, the system is killing us with injustices, wars, ecological threats and the media (YOU) promoting these. We see in him the path of a new world for the coming, because we believe another world is not only possible it is URGENT and NECESSARY.
So, go on, I guess in a way it is not so bad you act like this, sooner or later, more and more people will wake up and start to question your ways. Long live Chavez, a new world and independent media!
Andrea Hernandez
You are an @#$%^&* and a @#(&$(#$ for suggesting that they put two of the world's craziest leaders hell bent on our destruction on the front of Time Magazine.
Most of the world loves Chavez because he is vocal about hating america. When Hugo and the Iranian's finally get it together and put missiles in South America .....I just hope you are visiting florida when they decide to blow up Miami.
Here's a question: so now that the non webbies (aka our Luddite leadership here in the USA as well as other nations) have seen the emergence of web 2.0 and its new greatness, what are the chances that they start going after some of the revenue streams via taxes?