Better Bad News takes on PayPerPost and Gillmor Gang

Robert,

I must say that I agree with Jason too. The next time that you speak to him, please have him gather up those friends of his with excess money and then contact me.

I would like to change the world, I have a two-phase non-funded plan which needs some help.

This is a very short, dare I say lazy post - why don't you summarise what's said in the links you're pointing to and confirm to your readers that you have an opinion? Heck, it is Sunday morning after all !

Peter,

I almost agree with you, especially after going to your own blog and reading what you posted there, apparently after leaving your comment here.

However, as you stated yourself, it is Sunday morning after all, so what I did is I actually took the time to listen to the audio clip that Robert was referring to (only took 23 minutes, and one cup of coffee).

Had robert provided a summary, I would be agreeing more with Robert's summary, and not actually the comments which Jason made in the audio clip.

It's a great idea, though I wish Jason would move back to Brooklyn and help create a education 2.0 school.

I was apalled at Dana Gardner. Apparantly he believes it is impossible for human beings to improve their lives without ANOTHER group of human beings forcing them to do it.

It is politics that is the short term solution, not actually helping people.

I agree with Dana.

I'll go even further into the controversy to say that "A-list bloggers" have a increased responsibility to think through and debate these issues when confronted by them and not just blow them off. Kudos to Dana for standing up on this one. I would like to see you, Mike A, Doc, Dan F, Steve G, Mark C, Dave W, and others spend a little bit more time explaining your views in this forum here so we can trot this one out a bit. This debate will have a profound political impact on our society at a very important time in our national history ... you know it will. Stop thinking you don't matter that much. Dave W is making an impact right now ... let's follow his lead. Again he is way ahead of us all.

It is perfectly fine for folks like Jason to contribute privately but I don't want to see him get much press about it or even much personal gratification because the right thing to do is to figure out how to help a larger community. Maybe just Brooklyn, maybe NY, maybe the USA ... but someone of Jason's stature and wealth should be able to do more to fix the problem. And to Dana's point, if the minority of rich folks get off just helping a few kids each then the USA will be much worse off for it.

We live in a Democracy where the elites were able to spend billions on war and send 140,000 soldiers into Iraq while reducing taxes and the majority still seems to approve of this. We have a lot of work to do.

Not all of it has to be government sponsored by the way. Mark Cuban's work with Akeela and the Bee was powerful. Hell even Michael Milken has figured out how to atone for his mid-life crisis. Look around there are lots of good role models to follow.

Let's do more than just give out a "ham sandwich" ... if that is all we can do then let's just keep it to ourselves so we don't distract attention from the folks who are making a real difference in our communities and our country.

Erik

Erik, I think giving a person an education is the very definition of "teaching them how to fish".

At least you're not saying everything worthy must be done through government, like Dana insisted. Personally I split my giving between scolarships and doing something to change the system (though not in any way that would make Dana happy!).

Erik,

Here is where I think you started to go horribly wrong..." but someone of Jason’s stature and wealth should be able to do more to fix the problem."

Oh yeah? Like what - walk in to a Congressional hearing and state the fact that he is here to change the system?

He stated numerous times that politics is not something that he has an interest in, nor is it a strong point of his.

Do you really think that wealth and status have anything to do with it? If that is true, then just tell all of the grassroots organizations to quit now, as they don't have a chance to make any difference.

It's one thing for people to sit around and wish for world peace - yet, world peace, if it were to come about, would put a bunch of people out of work - we wouldn't need anymore police, lawyers, judges, or the entire military force, etc.

Erik: Steve Wozniak gave me $40,000 worth of Macs for our journalism department in 1989. That dramatically changed my life. No government needed. No committee needed.

I love that Jason found a way to improve four people's lives. If every rich person in just America did that we'd see millions of lives changed.

Michael: sometimes I think it's healthier for you to draw your own conclusions.

Michael,

Well firstly I think that there are folks in Brooklyn who have thought long and hard about how to help their community. Jason should start by talking with them. I also think that Brooklyn needs direct and private intervention and that these kids can't wait for the government to help them right now ... but I would rather hear what some of the Brooklyn community leaders have to say about what help they need most.

Maybe this guy can help start the dialog: http://www.house.gov/nadler/biography.shtml ... I am sure that Jason can get a meeting with him and that Jerry would like to help funnel Jason's philanthropy efforts into some impactful projects.

I personally would like to see Jason fund a technology center in Brooklyn that teaches kids to vblog. The kids will be required to create video documentaries that will allow us to understand their community and its issues. These kids will graduate with skills that will help them get jobs. Some might even get scholarships to great colleges.

Jason could go further to allow these folks to build content networks and develop content that advertisers would support. Jason could help bring advertisers to these new networks. Wow that would be a great use of his core skill set to change the world! I bet Jason would sleep like a baby if he did that. Even more, Jason will be remembered for doing something great for society.

Erik

Michael,
Tell me you are joking about World Peace causing unemployment! You really think there wouldn't be other things for them to do? In fact, not only would the military, police, etc not have to be paid anymore, but they could spend their time doing something else, so the benefit is actually reinforced, not counteracted. It seems to me you're talking about the whole "protect the buggy whip industry" nonsense we've seen with every new technology introduced.

Seriously, tell me you where joking!

Robert, there was a time when you used to offer insight, then there was a time where you at least summarized what you were talking about.

lately however, your blog posts are nothing but "hey, I read blogs. This is what I read today"

Good job Robert... you get a gold star?

Michael,

Unfortunately I agree with your statement that peace will put a bunch of people out of work. I’ll go even further into the controversy to say that our economy is dependent upon our military spending and our subsidies of countries like Israel to buy our weapons.

This is part of the reason why I think we can't just slim government down to the bare essentials. Without the economic engine of the military-industrial complex we may find ourselves in a major depression. Ike was right but we let it happen anyway.

Al Gore has a good answer. We need a set of private and public initiatives that will overhaul our industry, our educational system, and our economy around a big program to reduce global warming and remove our dependence upon the oil of dictators. It should be our biggest national security effort. We need a leader who, like Kennedy with the space program, can provide vision and national unity around this program. It will save our economy and our environment.

In the mean time the blogsphere can help by filling the role left vacant by the mainstream media by keeping the conversation going and providing a check on the military-industrial-media complex.

Please tell me what the URL for the Brooklyn Media Network will be ... in the mean time here is a great place to get news information: http://democracynow.org/podcast_help.shtml#feeds

Erik

John,

IMHO, and in a real way, I wish that I was joking - but looking around at basic human nature, I know that world peace can never be had until each individual no longer thinks that they have any right or that it is somehow justified to take something which doesn't belong to them.

It comes in many forms, from outright robbery, to playing corporate games to take advantage of the unsuspecting or unknowing individuals.

I think that my point to Erik was more along the lines not pointing out that what Jason is doing isn't fixing the root of the real problem. I think that what Jason is doing is one heck of a lot more than most people in similiar situations would do.

I've kissed many frogs recently, but nothing has come about. A lot of people would give up. A lot of people do give up. Then they sit around, wishing and waiting for some form of Government service to swoop in and take care of them.

I think that persistance with passion pays off end the end. People with the capital to make things happen, who are passionate about their quest, will make more difference to society in the long run.

Ryan: I'm sorry I have other things to do lately. Since when are you paying me to give my opinion? Until you do please don't get entitled with me. If you don't like what I do, leave. I'm not holding a gun to your head keeping you here. In fact, I keep telling you all about other blogs who are doing a better job than I am. They are here: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/14480565058...

Erik, you have GOT to be kidding. I guess not, but I just can't believe that rampant economic ignorance and short sightedness runs this deep, even among smart people.

The reality of the situation is that this vaunted "Military Inudstrial" complex is producing precious little of real value, and if there were World Peace, they would produce nothing of real value.

Dismantling it would probably cause some short term unemployment, as resources that were previously being wasted on salaries and durable equipment (aka, tanks, planes, etc) where redirected to OTHER uses. But you seem to only think about the unemployment, and completely forget that there are other things the money would be better spent on. Long term, entirely new industries could thrive, every industry would benefit from both more money and more people to draw from, and society as a whole would be better off as that fraction of our ALWAYS LIMITED resources would no longer need to be spent on military uses.

Is it just the idea of short term unemployment that bothers you? Geez, then lets just pay some folks salaries to STOP shooting each other, making tanks and plotting wars. That by itself would be a vast improvement.

John,

I agree with you ... my point was that our economy is dependent upon big government spending. Even Goldwater libertarians support the idea of military spending, so it has flourished politically. I think we need to make a similar sized investment in building the educational and industrial infrastructure to develop new pro-environment technologies that will replace oil. I think that it needs the same amount of leadership and unity as we saw during Kennedy's "Let's go to the moon" program.

Erik

Here's a bit more on what I was getting at. Obviously this topic needs further exploration. Thanks for all the input. http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gardner/?p=2356

Robert:
There's an interview with the founder, Ted Murphy, on my blog at: http://blogs.marketwatch.com/barnako/2006/10/wi...

Frank Barnako
blogs.marketwatch.com/barnako

Frank, that link you put up to marketwatch doesn't work?

Everyone, want to show your blog honor? Try one of these badges.

http://www.blogkits.com/bloghonor

Arguments such as the recent on Gilmore gang, which tend to decrease the IQ of anyone listening by 10 points, are demonstrations of what happens when you put together a small group of male egos, without any balancing women participating.

Heck, without any balancing humility, empathy, or imagination, either.

The BetterBadNews take had all three.