Quote of the Day: "You cannot speak of ocean to a well-frog, the creature of a narrower sphere. You cannot speak of ice to a summer insect, the creature of a season." -- Chuang Tzu, Chinese Philosopher
If I thought John Dvorak would read this, I'd send it to him (I'm not going to give him a link - you all know where to find him <G>), but after reading his last column in PC Magazine, I doubt very much if he'd set much store by anything I said. I am, after all, one of those people - you know, the people who Blog.
So this is an open letter of sorts to John Dvorak, should he happen to find himself in Blogspace. Or perhaps someone will send it to him. <VEG>
I actually found his column on the Cluetrain Manifesto quite amusing. First off, I have no idea why he chose to review a book that was published back in 1999, but he did. Clearly this book has been on his mind for a long time.
I don't know about Mr. Dvorak, but if I thought something was as insignificant and preposterous as he seems to think the Cluetrain Manifesto is, I certainly wouldn't bother writing about it several years after the fact.
He claims there is "cult thinking" involved, then he exclaims, "But, of course, 'I don't get it.'" This last phrase leaves a puddle of sarcasm and condescension oozing down the screen.
His superior tone indicates that he really does get it, but the rest of us are simply too dumb to see that he gets it. We're not smart enough to understand that he just doesn't want it. He's not buying into the philosophy.
Hey, no problem. Different strokes for different folks. But he can't let it go so easily. He continues to belittle those who do find merit in these ideas - because, of course, in his mind he knows better than we do. (Why he thinks this, I have no idea!)
I think Mr. Dvorak is like "the well-frog" or the "summer insect" in today's quote. He really doesn't get it, because the ideas behind the Cluetrain Manifesto are like the ocean to the well-frog and ice to the summer insect. They are simply beyond his sphere of comprehension. He doesn't have a clue <G> He has missed the train.
I should like to suggest that Mr. Dvorak get a copy of the Cave allegory from Plato's Republic, then I suggest he read it.
The people in Plato's cave are chained so that they can only see the wall in front of them. There is a light source behind them that casts shadows on the wall. The shadows are all they can see. Because this is all they know, they have come to believe that the shadows are what is real.
It's been awhile since I've read it, but IIRC, some of the cave people get outside the cave. They see light and real things, not just shadows. When they go back to the Cave, they try to convince those inside the cave that what they have been seeing is not real. Needless to say, they are scoffed at and scorned. The Cave dwellers do not "get it" because they have known nothing else but the shadows. Anything else is simply beyond their comprehension.
I don't know if those of us who understand what the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto are saying are the Cave Dwellers or if Mr. Dvorak is, but I strongly suspect that he is the one who has not ventured outside the Cave.
It was clear to me when I first read the introduction to the Cluetrain Manfesto some time ago, that it contained a large measure of truth. Corporations have lost contact with the people who actually use their products or services. In fact they don't even think of us as people. To them we are indeed, eyeballs or seats or bits of data in their demographics. All you have to do is spend some time watching TV commercials to know this.
They care not what we think, or feel or, dream. They care only what they can get us to buy or use. They care only where we fit in their collection of numbers.
The established media outlets are being rapidly bought out by these same corporations. Our government representatives are too often bought by them as well. None of those behind these corporations want two way communication. They want products out - dollars back in. And they care very little about the products, only the dollars. Can you say, "Enron?" I'll bet you can!
The internet scares "The Powers That Be" behind the scenes. We might talk to each other - horrors!. We might dare to expose the little man behind the curtain who pretends to be the Great and Powerful Wizard. We might find that in this web world, where we can't even see what the other person looks like, we might find real people instead of shadows. Arabs might meet Jews, and find they like each other. Blacks and whites can't see the color of the other person's skin, so they don't know who is and who isn't. Old and young cross the age barriers society has erected. We might just find that we, the people, are more alike than we are different.
That's a scary thought to those who profit from keeping us all in our separate little boxes, or in a Cave staring at shadows.
Perhaps that sounds idealistic, but I've seen evidence of it in my 14 years on the internet. And I'm willing to bet, there are many who would close the floodgates before it overcomes their tidy little worlds.
I'll leave you with two more quotes. The first is from Will Rogers, "Narrow-minded people are a lot like narrow-necked bottles. The less that's in them, the more noise it makes coming out." The second is from Emmanuel Goldstein, a computer hacker, "On the Internet, everyone is an equal until they prove themselves to be a moron." Mr. Dvorak, are you listening? BTW, Like Meryl Yourish, I like your music, better. The New World Symphony is rather nice (kind of an ironic title as well). Perhaps you should stick with what you know.<G>
Posted by Cyberkat at February 25, 2002 8:38 PM | TrackBack