Comments on: Sockpuppets on Neoliberal Society Redux

By: sonja

sonja — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:57:18 +0000

“There is good porn and bad porn… I guess” (what an arse)

“I hope my book will start this conversation” – my gawdess, the conversation started years ago. And Doris Lessing made more sense on the topic in her Nobel acceptance (and got a lot of flak for it, too!)

Respectful Dissent @16: you said it!

Who is this clown?

By: Respectful Dissent

Respectful Dissent — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:03:17 +0000

I don’t “read” on a screen, I “watch words”? Does anyone have any idea what he means, and why does he get money from anyone, anywhere?

By: Mold

Mold — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:02:50 +0000

I loathe the trolls, censoring moderators, sockpuppets, and village idiots that populate the Intertubes. I love the free exchange of ideas that are not predicated on education, social status, or wealth.

By: robd

robd — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:37:16 +0000

I don’t understand why he laments
the lack of face-to-face communication
and then wrties a BOOK about it…

By: rea

rea — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:54:46 +0000

when I first read comment 8, I saw “torturing” instead of “tutoring”

Siegel’s regret was that he didn’t sleep with the teenage Uma Thurman, so “tutoring” rather than “torturing” is the correct word.

By: nick s

nick s — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:30:26 +0000

Siegel turned his sockpuppetry into a book deal. He deserves to spend the next year having random passers-by whack him across the head with oily fish. Fucking pseud.

By: geo

geo — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:34:59 +0000

Haven’t read Siegel’s book, though I’m sympathetic to his argument, as I understand it. For what it’s worth, the locus classicus of this viewpoint is Sven Birkerts’s great essay, “Into the Electronic Millennium” (http://bostonreview.net/BR16.5/birkerts.html), further elaborated in his The Gutenberg Elegies.

By: F

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:02:09 +0000

Oh, and maybe this is wrong, but when I first read comment 8, I saw “torturing” instead of “tutoring”.

By: F

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:01:22 +0000

I found his appearance on the Daily Show interesting because he brings up important points, even though he expressed them poorly. I was aware of the background here and expected not to like him, but I found myself pitying him instead for being in over his head.

By: josh

josh — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:39:20 +0000

And, while we’re on the subject of Lee Siegel, let’s not forget his affecting reflections on his regrets that he didn’t sleep with a teenage Uma Thurman when he was tutoring her …
Yeah, not really related to anything that he says here. But I’m always surprised that despite his past statements, Siegel seems to have no trouble being taken seriously as a Weighty Cultural Critic; and feel impelled to point out what an enormous wanker he’s been (oops, there’re those internets, undermining civility …)

By: Seth Finkelstein

Seth Finkelstein — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:20:14 +0000

walt: Ah, thanks. I didn’t have that bit of cultural background.

By: Righteous Bubba

Righteous Bubba — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:54:00 +0000

Siegal is notorious for his posting under pseudonyms on the Internet.

…in praise of the genius of Lee Siegel.

By: Walt

Walt — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:51:17 +0000

Seth: The sole reason it’s novel is that it’s Lee Siegel who’s saying it. Siegal is notorious for his posting under pseudonyms on the Internet.

By: Sumana Harihareswara

Sumana Harihareswara — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 17:36:33 +0000

I was REALLY hoping Stewart would call him out on his personal experience as a sockpuppet. Argh and oh well.

By: Seth Finkelstein

Seth Finkelstein — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:22:05 +0000

Oh, c’mon. He didn’t say anything that many people haven’t already said at length. Especially the point that anonymous chatters tend to be nastier than people who have their real names attached to what they say. Don’t pretend he said something absurd when it is in fact mundane.