[p2p-research] Fwd: Open Source not anti-capitalist but a-capitalist

Sun Jan 3 15:15:04 CET 2010

I agree with the tenor and general sentiments of what you right.  I do find
your opinion of US media to be inaccurate.  To me, the European media is
monotone and lacking in diversity--the much needed reforms of the major
London newspapers notwithstanding.

In the US we have a range of publications from the Nation to the Wall Street
Journal that really offer a diverse set of views.  Every American
intellectual knows that Harpers, Mother Jones and the Nation are far left,
and WSJ, National Review and major southern newspapers are right wing.

My own view is that Europeans simply don't like the general majority tone.
The US is to the right of Europe.  That doesn't make it worse.  It makes it
different.  But Americans hear a tone from Europeans that is much like, I
suspect, the tone Belgians hear from the French.  Almost a dismissal.

On the other hand, Americans love being underdogs and have a consistent
persecution complex regardless of their background...we always invoke our
weaknesses to show we are real...e.g. the Kennedy's with being "Irish."
They are about as Irish as I am.

On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 9:46 PM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:

> I would say that the problem of living in the U.S. is indeed thinking that
> it is the center of the world, if not the whole world; and in addition, the
> media are particularly corporatized and there is terrible censorship of
> alternate ideas in the mainstream media (Chomsky will never be mentioned on
> the NYT), which doesn't of course hinder a huge and well organized
> alternative scene to exist, but it really requires a huge personal effort to
> break free ... Another issue in the U.S. is that all the  think thanks are
> funded by reactionary corporate money and also hugely  filter what is
> possible ...
>
> In Europe, the mainstream press is a lot more varied and open to critical
> ideas, but it has its own problems, there is an innate convervatism, a focus
> on the past, unlike the can-do U.S. attitude; the paradox used to be that
> the U.S. could remain dynamic thanks to European exiles; I guess that has
> now been replaced by an influx of Asian thinkers
>
> As difficult as it is, creating cross-continental dialogue is hugely
> important; the p2p research list is weak on asia and africa, but an example
> of at least tri-continent dialogue
>
> I don't think there is contempt here, though of course, I would not have a
> great interest in corporate sponsored thinking a la Heritage and Cato...
> these are indeed just hired hands ...but there is a sufficient amount of
> integer thinkers in every continent to keep a healthy dialogue going
>
> Michel
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 3:25 AM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> For an American...this whole obsession with anti-capitalism or
>> a-capitalism is very old school socialist and off-putting. I think this
>> stuff sells really well amongst university elites in Europe.  In the US it
>> just sounds silly.
>>
>> This may be a point of marketing.  The European green movement identifies
>> with 1968 and a hippie socialism that didn't take off.  Castells brilliantly
>> reflects that European ethos.  In America, it doesn't even get you a
>> third-rate newspaper's editorial page.  The stuff that is taken seriously in
>> Le Monde or even the Guardian almost daily is totally absurd in the NY Times
>> or even the SF Chronicle.
>>
>> Mostly this leads to both sides thinking the other is naive and foolish.
>> The giant European intellectuals a la Foucault come to the US and get, at
>> best, a small academic cult following; whereas they are rock stars at home
>> who lead protests and who regularly are allocated huge ink space in leading
>> newspapers or TV shows.  Meanwhile, serious US thinkers (often in business
>> or nonprofits) are dismissed in Europe as commercial.
>>
>> I think this dichotomy hurts the general movement (of P2P and others).  I
>> have proposed to people who have asked me for blog topics that reconciling
>> Europe to America is the great uncovered topic...but there are no takers.  I
>> think both hold each other too much in contempt for any real progress.
>>
>> Just today I heard one child dis another with the taunt of "euro-fag..."
>> meaning someone who holds to naive and idealistic views.  The (predictable)
>> counter epithet was "fascist."  So it goes. Having spent an evening recently
>> with a British woman who regaled me with the idea that all the current great
>> writers of English are British and that only the British make "reasonable"
>> Hollywood films...I am perhaps a bit agitated on the topic.
>>
>> It gets tedious to be the people who are always willingly welcoming the
>> British invasions "whilst" still being the people who are constantly treated
>> like a 2nd world country by the moochers.  So it goes.
>>
>> Ryan
>>
>>
>>   On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Michel Bauwens <
>> michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> http://www.google.be/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=michel+bauwens+manuel+castells
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson at gmail.com>
>>> Date: Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 8:17 AM
>>> Subject: Open Source not anti-capitalist but a-capitalist
>>> To: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/manuel-castells-on-open-source/resource_view
>>>
>>> *" He argues that Open Source is not anti-capitalist but a-capitalist "*
>>>
>>>  Manuel Castells on Open Source (Online Article)
>>>     Manuel Castells <http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/manuel-castells>
>>> *WSISPapers.Choike.org <http://wsispapers.choike.org/>*
>>>  Topic(s) of work: Development, ICT4D, Media Industries, Software, Free
>>> / Open Source  Abstract
>>>
>>> Manuel Castells gets behind the logic, the inspiration, the history, the
>>> progress and the future of Open Source. He argues that Open Source is not
>>> anti-capitalist but a-capitalist, meaning that it is compatible with
>>> different social logics and values. It is based on a form of social
>>> organization that has profound political implications and may affect the way
>>> we think about the need to preserve capitalist institutions and hierarchies
>>> of production.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Think
>>> thank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>>>
>>> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  -
>>> http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>>>
>>> Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
>>> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
>>>
>>> Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
>>> http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ryan Lanham
>> rlanham1963 at gmail.com
>>  Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
>> P.O. Box 633
>> Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
>> Cayman Islands
>> (345) 916-1712
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Think
> thank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>
> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>
> Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
>
> Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
> http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
Ryan Lanham
rlanham1963 at gmail.com
Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
P.O. Box 633
Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
Cayman Islands
(345) 916-1712
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