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Published September 23, 2008 at 2:09 p.m.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you. If I could somehow arrange things so that I actually made my living cruising around the 'net and writing about stuff that interested me, I'd be a pretty happy camper. Alas, my contributions to this blog are strictly voluntary, as per usual.
To kick things off, I'd like to offer the following words by writer and thinker of Big Ideas, Douglas Rushkoff, who's guest blogging at Boing Boing this week. This is from his opening remarks at the Personal Democracy Forum in NYC this summer...
To me, “Personal Democracy” is an oxymoron. Democracy may be a lot of things, but the last thing it should be is “personal.” I understand “personal responsibility,” such as a family having a recycling bin in which they put their glass and metal every week. But even then, a single recycling bin for a whole building or block would be more efficient and appropriate.
Democracy is not personal, because if it’s about anything, it’s not about the individual. Democracy is about others. It’s about transcending the self and acting collectively. Democracy is people, participating together to make the world a better place.
One of the essays in this conference’s proceedings – the book “Rebooting Democracy”- remarks snarkily, “It’s the network, stupid.” That may go over well with all of us digital folks, but it’s not true. It’s not the network at all; it’s the people.
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