Dave Winer — Two-Level Communities

March 19th, 2005 by smp | Filed under smp.

Dave Winer hits it on the head: What’s the point of doing something or going somewhere if your experience is going to be secondary to those who are considered “special”?

A conference experience should not be substantively better because of who you are. If you arrive late, the overflow room should be just as acceptable as the front row.

I live what would be considered a priveleged life. If you look on the right-side of the page, you will see that I pine for a Powerbook. Instead, I keep gas in my tank, food on my table, and be the best father I can be.

I wish that my laptop bag looked like Joi Ito’s. I wish that I clocked as many air miles as Tom Peters. I wish I lived on the beach like Dave Winer. I wish my blog got as many hits as Robert Scoble.

But when my wishes are held back not because of who I am, but because of who someone else is, I get cranky.

Tags: blog, book, EAD, hits, HTTP, IE, IP, it, live, Om, One, pr

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Fred 3 years ago 1 point
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Um... actually, I couldn't disagree more. If one goes through life judging one's quality of life based upon a percieved, implied or imagined superiority or speciality of others, one will live a life of unrequited jealousy and die feeling inadequate. Trust me, somebody somewhere is always more special than you are. I wish to live my life to the best of my ability. The fact that I fly from Calgary to Cancun coach while you fly First Class doesn't detract from the fact that we both deplane in Mexico. What I experience while I'm down there is up to me, and by the same token your experience is up to you. Even if we hook up for drinks and disco each of our experiences will be unique. Who gets to decide whose experience is secondary to the others? Who gets to define what secondary is? And as long as I enjoy my time, why should I bother comparing it to yours?

"A conference experience should not be substantively better because of who you are. If you arrive late, the overflow room should be just as acceptable as the front row."

See, that makes no sense either. Your logic is flawed -- the two sentences are unrelated. _Who_ you are has nothing to do with your ability to show up on time. If you can't be bothered to show up on time, why should I bother to make your experience as good as that of those who were polite enough to show up in a timely fashion? I've done Theatre, and if ticket holders shows up late, not only are they not guaranteed a seat, often they are not even guaranteed entrance, ticket or no ticket. So if you are forced to watch the event on a video monitor rather than being allowed into the conference hall it's your own fault for being tardy. Nothing to do with how special you are.

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Liz Lawley 3 years ago 1 point
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What's the point of doing something or going somewhere if your experience is going to be secondary to those who are considered "special"?

Huh?

So, what's the point of having kids if my pregnancy won't end up on the cover of People like Julia Roberts?

What's the point of cooking a great dinner for my family if it's not going to featured in Bon Appetit?

Certainly there's no point in my son writing stories if they're not going to be published like those by the "special people."

And I'll have to stop going to the movies, too, because they tend not to roll out red carpets when my family and I arrive.

If you're doing something only for the recognition, Dave might be right. The alternative is to do it because you enjoy it.

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