Reading Notes: The Pirate’s Dilemma Ch 2
If you haven’t watched the video yet, do so.
“Pirates create positive social and economic changes, and understanding piracy today is more important than ever, because now that we all can copy and broadcast whatever we want; we can all become pirates†(Mason 35).
Mason makes a clear argument here, drawing from the history of our country, music, and movies: Nearly every major innovation has piracy in its history.
See Reginald Fessenden, for instance, who made news with his “wireless station.â€
Today we discussed the fact that companies have jumped on the DIY bandwagon (and the charity and “green†offshoots of this), understanding that consumers are looking for the feeling that they are “making a difference†or “outsmarting the man†by buying products that give them a feeling of empowerment. Regardless of whether you feel this is appropriate, sneaky, or just a smart move, it highlights the fact that this ethos has gone mainstream.
“The mainstream news media are being undermined by bloggers and citizen journalists offering a wider variety of local and niche coverage†(Mason 49-50).
This is leaking into other arenas, as well. We now have blogs (as Mason describes on 48), youTube (which allows people to get their video out, but also provides a forum for citizen journalists to effect change [think Rodney King]), a general acceptance of “street art,†a rise in superhero culture (ask me about this one), and a general sense of self-empowerment fueled by the free tools at our disposal. Punk isn’t dead; punk went mainstream.
[T]he only way to stay on top is to offer the best content, the most variety, and the latest, most entertaining, and accurate information. . . . [W]ith millions of bloggers vetting each other, inaccuracies in stories on the most popular blogs are usually pointed out quickly. (Mason 55)
We’ll talk about this tomorrow.
