Jackie Danicki

I am dismayed on a daily basis by the lack of imagination and curiosity that some people - who like to think of themselves as open-minded, tolerant, and “hip” (horrible term) - display with regard to politics and government. They cling to state control like Britney to a bag of Cheetos. I notice this most in people who talk as if they have designs on public office - boasting with no shame about all they supposedly do for their community or how they’re deeply committed to ecology or other politico-speak - while living only for the spotlight on themselves. Mike Masnick thinks that’s all going to change - but it won’t be pretty or painless:

Sometimes people wonder why so many people in the tech industry tend to fall into more of a “libertarian” viewpoint on things. Perhaps it’s because they realize the empowering nature of technology to do away with the need for many more centralized top down structures. The reason that we often have big top down structures is because there was no efficient way to spread the control outwards, so you consolidate power at the top allowing someone else to make decisions for a large group of people as their “representative.” However, technology erodes some of that, by creating more efficient means of communication, breaking down the need for such top down control…Companies today are more fluid, with a much more bottom up approach. Products and services that involve a bottom up approach are becoming more popular (and more useful) every day. So it’s only a matter of time until the same thing happens to the government.

…Those who came up through the “old” way, which grants more power and control at the top freak out at the idea of giving up that control. You see it today with the way Microsoft reacts to open source, the way the RIAA reacts to Napster, to the way newspapers react to citizen journalism. They close up, circle the wagons and talk about how important that control is — though, not in those terms exactly. Instead, they trash the quality of the more chaotic bottom up system, missing the point that it’s not about the average quality, but the the abundance of options that make quality more personalized. The same thing will happen in politics as well. Many people get into politics (or get hooked on politics) because of the power that comes with it. Getting them to give up that power won’t be easy by any means. But it will happen. It’ll just mean a period of rather painful adjustment.

I hope he’s right.

Filed under: Life