23 Aug 2002
Fri, 23 Aug 2002
Dave Winer Gets Internet Politics All Wrong
Dave Winer quotes Ed Cone and gets it all wrong:
Ed Cone: "Comebody could end a political career pretty damn fast by letting out some 2 AM brainfart onto the Web." I don't agree with this prediction. My guess is that when politics and governance move to this medium, it will be a lot more resilient than TV. Remember, in this medium, each voter can have his or her own TV station.
No! Each voter can't have his or her own TV station, or weblog, or whatever you're implying because neither the web nor TV have been or will be ubiquitous. Sure, some pretty influential demographic is operating on the web, and you can certainly reach that demographic, but is that enough to put a libertarian in office in a two party country? I can go to the library and get internet access, or I can acquire an internet device and an ISP, but if your campaign depends on that, you may be in serious trouble. The fact is, for the time being your campaign will likely be in better shape if you target your message toward traditional media. Cone is right.
While the typical technologist can probably insult a few people without totally alienating his audience, the typical politician cannot afford to make such mistakes. Taking the rhetoricians out of the equation just makes it more likely that a candidate is going to make that fatal mistake.
Posted at: 17:58 | permalink
