Mark Helprin
I saw Mark Helprin speak about his new book Digital Barbarism. I confess to not having read the book cover to cover, but I did read the important op-ed piece from which the book derives.
Helprin was attacked by the online white-sheets-and-hoods crowd (over 750,000 strong) which was what prompted him to write the book-length version.
I'm going to read the book and suggest that anyone who is concerned about standing up to the copyright bullies online do so as well.
Helprin was attacked by the online white-sheets-and-hoods crowd (over 750,000 strong) which was what prompted him to write the book-length version.
I'm going to read the book and suggest that anyone who is concerned about standing up to the copyright bullies online do so as well.
posted by Chris Castle at
10:49 AM
7 Comments:
Really?
From Lessig's review:
But then here's the astonishing fact about Digital Barbarism: "Though the Internet is a waste, though blogs are "subliterate" and wiki's are written "the way Popeye speaks," Helprin draws exclusively upon the Internet to form the knowledge he needs to launch his attack. He cites no book, or scholarly article, that might help explain the copyright puzzle that started him on his odyssey. Literally everything he points to to explain the weirdness that is copyright is either a blog, or a wiki, or an essay in an Internet publication."
With all of the well researched books written by IP Scholars from every angle and ideology you are going to recommend people read this one? I can think of a lot of better books and articles people should read first before this to be able to intelligently argue with "copyright bullies online".
I didn't recommend just this one. You might do well to broaden your own reading list beyond Lessig.
You might do well to read the book before recommending it. It's a complete joke. It takes numerous online comments completely out of context, shows little understanding of basic copyright law or history, and gets a ton of basic facts wrong.
If it were parody, it might be reasonable. But it makes errors far worse than anything Helprin claims those online "attacks" made about him.
There are reasonable and interesting arguments on all sides of this debate. Helprin's is not one of them. It's so poorly thought out and researched that it makes copyright supporters look really, really bad.
So, again, I wouldn't be so quick in hyping it up.
First of all, what interests me about the book is that it is written by one of the truly gifted artists of a generation. I find the book to be his personal reaction as an artist to his personal experience as an artist in trying to cope with base rudeness and incivility perpetuated by unfiltered thought.
More importantly, Mark Helprin shares my view that what is happening as the result of online copyright bullies who get an "attaboy" from Lessig is the cruel theft of labor value.
We in the creative community are accustomed to The Man stealing our labor value as are software engineers toiling as code monkeys in cubicals in Mountain View.
At least creators fought for--and won--the right to unionize.
And that is the fundamental difference between creators of art and creators of code. Creators of code have yet to feel the indignation of having rights they fought for taken away because they have yet to have enough indignation to collectively fight for their rights in the first place.
So I understand why those who wish to preserve the status quo in the Valley power structure would be threatened by an artist like Helprin speaking up. As I've said elsewhere, we have seen this movie before--this is the sequel.
The Man--2.0.
For the most part, creators of code get paid for their work as long as it works--sort of--without too many bugs or useability issues. They have no incentive to do a particularly good job of it. That requirement comes after work hours, in their hobby time.
So they don't make any link, in their minds, between "create as well as you can" and "get paid for doing it". As far as they're concerned, they're getting paid for digging ditches. The sculptures, the songs, the novels; coders create their equivalents of these things for free, in their spare time. The idea of "monetizing creativity" is crazy to them, because they never had to do it.
That's a very insightful point. I have always wondered why the AFL-CIO hasn't tried to organize Google.
I would urge you to read the book. Helprin takes the time to logically think through the positions advocated by the folks that are attacking copyright. He has a brilliant mind and is a great writer. He refutes every position - in fact they just look silly - like spoiled immature kids.
I've seen only bad or tepid reviews of the book. Most criticism is about the tone of the book - Helprin does not hold back any of the disdain he obviously has for those that attack copyright. I think that disrespect comes from the fact that their argument has gained a lot of traction but, as proved by Helprin, is based on really feeble intellectual footings. He takes words and thoughts and meanings seriously and seems baffled beyond repair by the sheer numbers of supporters the anti-copyright (free lunch) movement has.
Anyway, it is well worth your time.
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