Glenn Reynolds is the mastermind behind Instapundit.com. Joe Trippi was the Internet guru for presidential candidate Howard Dean. Last night at the National Press Club, they came together for a discussion with author Barry Lynn about the Blogging Revolution.
The issue at hand was that of blogging, and “Davids versus Goliath.” It posed the question: “Do the Internet and other related technologies allow us to be more in control of our lives? Are politics, culture, and economics more responsive to individuals than ever before or is more power becoming concentrated in fewer and fewer hands?”
Reynolds talked about the Internet and how it is changing our way of life. People now have the means to say what they want, and “people are doing it because they like it [blogging].” Reynolds is the author of the new book, An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths. The title is a metaphor for all the people who blog and how they challenge the “Goliaths.”
Trippi, author of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything, used an analogy of a printing press. He said that before the invention of the printing press only the rich could have books like the Bible. Only a select handful of people had the power. Once the printing press came into action, the power shifted, and many people could have a Bible in their homes because the power was now distributed. Trippi said blogs are creating a huge shift of power, and that “the bigs are now threatened.” Rather than isolate people, Trippi thinks blogs are “one of the most community building things I’ve seen.”
Barry Lynn wrote End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation. He said the power is now with the “bigs” and believes globalization is taking over our country. He was essentially at odds with both Reynolds and Trippi. He said there are now monopolies, or almost monopolies, within all aspects of the economy. He listed the food industry, steel companies and healthcare suppliers. Concluding his argument,
