Elsewhere on the Internets

by Henry Farrell on June 18, 2008

For thems thats interested, I have a new dialogue with Dan Drezner up at “Bloggingheads”:http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/11994. Perhaps the most valuable bit for me was that as a result of our discussion of the famous Jeremy Paxman demolition job on Michael Howard, one of the Bloggingheads crowd dug up the video on YouTube, and linked to it. “Here it is”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwlsd8RAoqI.

I’m also blogging in the discussion of Clay Shirky’s new book _Here Comes Everybody_ (Powells, “Amazon”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=Clay%20Shirky%20Here%20Comes&tag=henryfarrell-20&index=blended&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325 ) at TPM Cafe. A post on how the proliferation of groups doesn’t end status competitions “here”:http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/18/im_happy_that_clay_is/, and one about power laws and inequality “here”:http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/18/getting_power_laws_wrong/.

{ 4 comments }

1

Warren Terra 06.18.08 at 10:13 pm

While the Paxman clip is great, and g-d knows we Americans need interviewers who won’t take waffle for an answer, I thought I’d read that that particular Paxman clip was actually a bit contrived: apparently the next scheduled segment went missing (the guest failed to show, or something), and so the producers signaled Paxman to keep going in order to fill time in the broadcast that would otherwise have been dead air.

Doesn’t detract from the virtues of Paxman’s approach (especially when it’s applied to substantive issues, as opposed to the guilt-by-third-degree-association, flag pins, cheez whiz, and haircuts that our media seems to love). But it does suggest that, under different circumstances, Paxman would eventually have given up on the question.

2

marcegoodman 06.19.08 at 3:10 pm

In the clip linked below, Paxman and Howard “reminisce”, confirming Warren’s assertion.

3

Russell Arben Fox 06.19.08 at 4:44 pm

Pseudo-Luddite though I am, Clay Shirky is a fine salesman of his quasi-techno-libertarian vision of the future; I once blogged on a snappy presentation of his about the future of technology and society here. Several tech-savvy friends of mine joined in the discussion, and had a fair number of sometimes harsh things to say about Shirky and his arguments. Interesting stuff, all around.

4

roac 06.19.08 at 8:28 pm

From the TPM Cafe post:

More generally, there will be rife opportunities for con-men and chancers.

I thought it was spelled “chancres.”

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