Internet killing our culture? Not guilty!

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on May 1st, 2007

Andrew Wallenstein (Reuters) writes a devastating review of a book by a fellow named Andrew Keen, “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture.”

“Keen,” as defined in the dictionary (which we looked up on the internet), means “A prolonged wail for a deceased person.” How… appropriate.

In this case, the deceased “person” is the whole of the Antique Media– Movies, films, TV… maybe even books. (The Female Half had a hankering to purchase a giant doorstop of a dictionary the other day at a yard sale. We declined. Said the Male Half to the Female Half, “We don’t need books any more.” Ouch, says the Antique Media!)

The piece quotes the book’s author:

“The monkeys take over,” Keen says. “Say good-bye to today’s experts and cultural gatekeepers– our reporters, news anchors, editors, music companies and Hollywood movie studios.”

Indeed! These monkeys point out that “today’s experts and cultural gatekeepers” have been doing a bang-up job, dontcha think? What a pity it would be were they to suddenly lose their power, their dominance, their revenue!

Wallenstein gives Keen a good whupping:

“Cult” is unabashed in its elitism, and there’s something deliciously counterintuitive about someone essentially arguing that the ability of the masses to generate content is a bad thing. Absorbing Keen’s jeremiad is like listening to Louis XVI decrying the French Revolution.

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