It Takes One to Know One: The Cult of the Amateur

Andrew Keen, author of Cult of the Amateur – How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture, sounds like an elitist dick; nevertheless, at this point he’s got more speaking engagements than an evangelical minister. His contrarian get-rich-quick scheme seems to be paying off.

HE SAID, WE SAID
It's true that the internet is full of pornography and gambling-- but North America was both perverted and greedy long before the internet played a role. It's true that publishing and the nature of information is changing, but ideas and truths are meant to evolve with changing cultural and socio-political landscapes. It’s true that some people should be seen and not heard…wait, what?

It seems to me that Andrew Keen longs for the good ole’ days when weathered old writers were privileged enough to get university degrees, gain the respect of their privileged peers and then own a pseudo-monopoly on the delivery of information.

THE INTERNETS ARE BETTER!
Sure the internet allows some less-than-academic information to proliferate like Chuck Norris Facts or NumaNuma but even those contributions are valuable entertainment to the weak and weary. To me, denying user-generated culture is simply a way of hoarding space. The real experts aren’t afraid of a little competition because the real experts have no problem gaining readership across mediums.

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It Takes One to Know One: The Cult of the Amateur

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