After reading \u201cthe cult of the amateur\u201d by Andrew Keen, I was ready to write my blog about my opinion of Keen that was very similar to what my classmates have said.\u00a0 Calling your readers monkeys is not a good way to sell a book (because these days even my 89 year old Grandfather has a Facebook account), or convince a whole generation that the Internet is bad for them. I still feel that way, but last night I went to the theater to watch San Jose Broadway\u2019s version of \u201cThe West Side Story\u201d. While I was there, one of the points that Keen made became clear to me, and I am forced to agree.\u00a0 The fine arts are being lost.\u00a0 As I sat in the Center of Performing Arts, I looked around and the average age of the people in the theater was probably 60 years old. My generation does not choose to spend their money on the theater.\u00a0 It made me wonder if this art is one that I will be able to share with my grandchildren or if the costs of running these types of shows will outweigh the profits being brought in, and a whole industry will be lost.\u00a0 As an Economics major, I have to concede that markets change, and that is how we move forward in society, but it saddens me that my generation would rather spend their time in front of a computer or TV instead of reading a book or going to the theater.<\/p>\n
Then today, I watched Keen interview Carmine Gallo, the author of \u201cThe Power of Foursquare\u201d.\u00a0 It seems to me that Keen is as guilty of selling out as his friends he went camping with.\u00a0 There was nothing on his show about how bad the Internet is, or how it is ruining society.\u00a0 He had Gallo on the show, and Gallo plugged his book and foursquare the whole time.\u00a0 Keen\u2019s show made me want to download foursquare to my phone, not to stay off of these social networks that Keen seems to loathe so much.\u00a0 Watching the interview made me lose the little bit of respect I had for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After reading \u201cthe cult of the amateur\u201d by Andrew Keen, I was ready to write my blog about my opinion of Keen that was very similar to what my classmates have said.\u00a0 Calling your readers monkeys is not a good … Continue reading