Chris Shipley 1, Internet lynch mob 0
Her post deserves to be quoted at length:
When in a twitter I bemoaned the lack of original reporting (only one reporter (cnet) and exactly zero bloggers writing this week about this silly DEMO v TechCrunch episode actually contacted me), the infamous blogger Robert Scoble suggested that if I'd blog my opinion, he'd link to it. Does that mean that a perspective only exists or matters if it's expressed in a blog post? Or that Robert's just moving too fast to do any investigation outside his narrow medium?Scoble's not the only guy living in the rarefied air of the echo-chamber. Sarah Lacy, who works for the much-respected Businessweek.com, conducted a five-minute video interview with TC50's Mike Arrington and Jason Calacanis, during which the two leveled the usual slander. Did Lacy fire one tough question at the two? Did this journalist call me or the DEMO organization to get a response to serious accusations? Um, the answer to that would be "no."
In fact, a few weeks ago, when Mike Arrington wrote an assumption-based and error-filled story that demanded an apology from the DEMO organization for a comment that was clearly not made by or on behalf of anyone at DEMO, Lacy picked up the story and wrote with righteous indignation that slander was the highest insult that could be leveled against a journalist. Did she call me or DEMO before posting her story? Again no.
Par for the course.
Not that any of what she wrote today is going to make a whit of difference to the mob baying for her head, but the bloviators choosing sides in this staged "controversy" are attacking one of the good guys (or in this, gals) in the technology business. How do I know? Full disclosure: I got to know Chris in the early 1990s when we worked together on a pre-Internet online publishing platform. Suffice it say that she's a straight shooter with loads of integrity, the sort of person my father would describe as "a mensch."
Is Demo making a buck on the backs of entrepreneurs? You bet. They also get to strut their stuff at a high-profile venue. Arrington and Calcanis are smart guys and my guess is that they're not putting on TechCrunch 50 solely out of the kindness of their hearts. If all this results in a wider venue to startups, more power to everyone concerned. I'll leave it at that.
Charles is an executive editor with CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years. A graduate of Queens College and Columbia University, Cooper began his career in journalism at the Associated Press before moving to technology coverage. Before joining CNET News, he worked at Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. He received the Excellence in Journalism award from the Northern California branch of the Society for Professional Journalists for column writing. In addition to his blogging and podcast appearances, he is a co-host of the CNET News Daily Debrief. E-mail Charlie.
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I can also vouch for Chris. I interacted with her briefly during my NASA days and 'straight shooter' is an apt description. Not sure about the 'mensch' bit though.
See Donald Hebb and the dual trace mechanism, then try to understand what happens when new media emerge that create a sense of simultaneity or participation across statistical populations. The zeitgeist or lemming behavior is real. Not only will they exhibit similar behaviors, they physically can't avoid doing so.
You live in the echo chamber and it rewires you brain to want to stay there. See also, endorphin addiction.
Some people become self-aware of their power to control their own re-wiring and through practice become good at it. See zazen and any number of other self-improvement systems. They all start with the 'emptying' ceremony that takes away the correspondences of inner maps to outer maps so one can de-link, than re-link.
After the elections, watch for an increase in drug use and other forms of addiction transfer.