Sherman Alexie still hates ebooks

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Alan Kaufman

Does it strike anyone here as strange that the two authors, Alan Kaufman and Sherman Alexie, who stand up to oppose the hi-tech cestruction of books are each the sons of genocided people? Kaufman (me) is son of a Holocaust survivor; Alexie is Native American.
Perhaps we intuit something that you don't, about how trashing of sacred cultural
artifacts such as the book has genocidal implications that you all, in your haste to embrace all these toys, may be unaware of, through no fault of your own. We just happened to be born to genocided people. And we're trying to warn you, alert you, that despite all the reassurances that it won't happen, can't happen, etc., the fact remains: hi-tech is destroying books and book culture. The book world is in collapse. And this bodes terribly for our culture and civilixation. It is a step into barbarism of the worst kind, though one may not immedioately see this.

What's so frustrating about having a rational conversation with you on this is that you continue to (and I must say it nows appears deliberate a d disingenuous) ignore that 'books' are not at threat, just the medium through which they are delivered. Books are doing quite well even as we tansition to a newer medium of delivery.

Derek

[kindlekitten]

what I recall from Alexie's first outburst was, as I said, his anger that he perceived the ebook as a toy for the idol rich. ok, I didn't say it that way, nor did he, but I think that was more or less the intent.

having spent a LOT of time on the reservations in the southwest I have to say that the day the bookmobile comes to your little spot on the map is pretty much a holiday. the first two or three times. then you realize that they are the same worn out tired books that have been rejected by big city libraries and you are not going to get anything new. these are places where getting to a real library, let alone the big city library (and these folks don't have money to be buying books... not even a snowball's chance) are so remote, that it's not even worth it to think about it. I wonder... when Bill Gates realized that he really was a multi-millionaire, he helped fund adding additional wiring to some of the reervations, and computers for schools... I wonder if some other philanthropist(s) gifted these reservations Kindles or nooks (anything that requires a computer connection wouldn't be worth it), and assisted the associated libraries to come up to speed with ebook lending... I just wonder if this is a tune that might not change. of course the incredibly phenomenal change that it would make to reservation residents... well, I think you could count the stars in the sky before you could count the good that would come from this.

[dreadcptflint]

About 15 years ago, you could have found Sherman Alexie at The Globe Cafe with Robin Schultz or Margareta Waterman. It was one of Seattle's only Vegan Bakery and it featured Red Sky Poetry Theatre. Stories, poems and even ideas were shared. Sherman Alexie gave quite a few perfomances where he had to connect with his audience.

Now that he is sitting in front of a television camera and doesn't have to share ideas or conect to his audience. (Yes, even that basic skill of storytelling is self stripped from his character.) He can turn his back in fear of a new connection and a new medium to express his craft. I wish I knew what it was that jaded him so that I can avoid it and continue to explore and connect with the communities around me.

[kindlekitten]

at a guess, money?

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

at a guess, money?

Women trouble?

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by dreadcptflint

About 15 years ago, you could have found Sherman Alexie at The Globe Cafe with Robin Schultz or Margareta Waterman. It was one of Seattle's only Vegan Bakery and it featured Red Sky Poetry Theatre. Stories, poems and even ideas were shared. Sherman Alexie gave quite a few perfomances where he had to connect with his audience.

Now that he is sitting in front of a television camera and doesn't have to share ideas or conect to his audience. (Yes, even that basic skill of storytelling is self stripped from his character.) He can turn his back in fear of a new connection and a new medium to express his craft. I wish I knew what it was that jaded him so that I can avoid it and continue to explore and connect with the communities around me.

I'm thinking it's not 'jaded' but rather a deep-seated fear of personal interaction and a need to dominate the 'conversation'. You can't really get that if you have to deal with all those obstreperous and obnoxious PEOPLE who are, naturally, going to insist upon giving feedback.

Derek

[Alan Kaufman]

A STATEMENT FROM ALAN KAUFMAN

So now in addition to myself a second author has stood up to claim as I do that the hi-tech drive to replace the book is nothing less than a cultural crime.
Is it a coincidance that a Native American author, son of a genocided people, and a Jewish author and son of a Holocaust survivor--again, the child of a genocided people--should each intuit that what hi-tech is doing to the book and to our individual freedoms smacks of nothing less than totalitarianism?
What profoundly amazes and saddens me is that young people who should be the fount of independent thought and revolutionary thinking have been so duped by these gadget-generating greedy corporations that they have actually swallowed, hookm line and sinker, the marketing message that Hi-Tech is the way and the future! It is as if an entire generation has been sold through brilliant marketing that the best way to spend ones life is through obsessive purchase and use of appliances like Washingmachines and
Refrigerators and cars and...oh, but wait. That did happen, didn't it. Right after WWII, during the Eisenhauir era when the man in the gray flannel suit, the corporate man, began his rise on the back of technologies and through corporate sustems that were produced, in large part, to serve the aims of war, now applied to civilian life (including population control). At least them, youth revolted, through rock and roll, Beat Literature and later, the cultural explosion of the 60s. And refrigerators and washingmachines do not a totalitarian society make: Kindles do. Hi-Tech is something altogether different. Hi-Tech and all its systems and devices are addictive,
attention-destroying and soul-sapping. Also, we have a youth population that have been subjected to the most sinisterly effective marketing campaign in human history--one that made the selling of National Socialism or Communism to their respective populations seem like games by comparison. But the end games are the same:
control and domination of our thoughts and actions. How can young people not see that plainly and fail to rise up in outrage and destroy the machine that is systematically devouring them? Instead, Sherman and I are called names and villiified and mocked.
But though we seem like weirdos and cranks to so many of you, we are the only voices in the wilderness arguing for the rescue of your human essence.

From Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-k...mment_35789066

From Evergreen Review:

http://evergreenreview.com/120/elect...k-burning.html

From the Panel: Are Books Dead? Hi-tech and the Written Word:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7seAE...layer_embedded

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Alan Kaufman

What profoundly amazes and saddens me is that young people who should be the fount of independent thought and revolutionary thinking have been so duped by these gadget-generating greedy corporations that they have actually swallowed, hookm line and sinker, the marketing message that Hi-Tech is the way and the future! It is as if an entire generation has been sold through brilliant marketing that the best way to spend ones life is through obsessive purchase and use of appliances like Washingmachines and
Refrigerators and cars and...oh, but wait. That did happen, didn't it. Right after WWII, during the Eisenhauir era when the man in the gray flannel suit, the corporate man, began his rise on the back of technologies and through corporate sustems that were produced, in large part, to serve the aims of war, now applied to civilian life (including population control). At least them, youth revolted, through rock and roll, Beat Literature and later, the cultural explosion of the 60s. And refrigerators and washingmachines do not a totalitarian society make: Kindles do. Hi-Tech is something altogether different. Hi-Tech and all its systems and devices are addictive,
attention-destroying and soul-sapping. Also, we have a youth population that have been subjected to the most sinisterly effective marketing campaign in human history--one that made the selling of National Socialism or Communism to their respective populations seem like games by comparison. But the end games are the same:
control and domination of our thoughts and actions. How can young people not see that plainly and fail to rise up in outrage and destroy the machine that is systematically devouring them? Instead, Sherman and I are called names and villiified and mocked.
But though we seem like weirdos and cranks to so many of you, we are the only voices in the wilderness arguing for the rescue of your human essence.

Why oh why oh why do you keep going on about corporations when you work for one? You're the lackey, friend, you're the slave to the corp, the 9to5 writer, the yes sir no sir writer. You're in league with the ten-percenters and the slave masters of the publishing world. You're not a revolutionary, you're not a free-thinker, you're in collusion with the opressors. You, sir, are a traitor to every idea you claim to hold as truth. You are the man in the gray suit.


Alan Kaufman's book "Matches" is published by Back Bay Books, a subsidiary of Hachette who are owned by Lagardere, one of the biggest corporations in the world.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Alan Kaufman

A STATEMENT FROM ALAN KAUFMAN
And refrigerators and washingmachines do not a totalitarian society make: Kindles do. Hi-Tech is something altogether different. Hi-Tech and all its systems and devices are addictive, attention-destroying and soul-sapping.

You haven't established how Kindles are qualitatively different from refrigerators, washing machines... and printing presses.

Is the desktop printer a soul-sucking device? It meshes well with ebooks.

Or maybe I should ignore your rants because I don't own a Kindle; I read ebooks on different devices.

But though we seem like weirdos and cranks to so many of you, we are the only voices in the wilderness arguing for the rescue of your human essence.

"The wilderness" is not internet forums and the blogosphere. "The wilderness" is not downloadable through a wifi connection.

If you want to be a "voice in the wilderness," you'll need to do it offline.

I know plenty of people who argue, with some reasonable accuracy, that hi-tech is destroying humanity. THEY AREN'T ONLINE. You are a hypocrite: someone who claims that the aspects you don't like are bad, while shamelessly using the aspects you do like, without describing any difference between them.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Alan Kaufman

purchase and use of appliances like Washingmachines and
Refrigerators and cars and...oh, but wait. That did happen, didn't it. Right after WWII, during the Eisenhauir era when the man in the gray flannel suit, the corporate man, began his rise on the back of technologies and through corporate sustems that were produced, in large part, to serve the aims of war

So now washing machines and refrigerators and cars are bad?

BTW, "washing machine" is two freaking words, Mr. High Culture.

[whitearrow]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

What about spoons?

There is no spoon.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by whitearrow

There is no spoon.

Yes there is.

[ardeegee]

http://www.examiner.com/x-24149-SF-L...uture-of-books

Edited to add:

I've been watching these video clips. There have been some very interesting speakers on the panel after Hyperbolon gave his introduction. Especially good is the ones by Annalee Newitz (who I'm sure Hyperbolon conciders to be "not human" and "not alive".) I can see clearly why he posted a link only to his opening statements and not the compelling rebuttals.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Alan Kaufman

A STATEMENT FROM ALAN KAUFMAN

So now in addition to myself a second author has stood up to claim as I do that the hi-tech drive to replace the book is nothing less than a cultural crime.
Is it a coincidance that a Native American author, son of a genocided people, and a Jewish author and son of a Holocaust survivor--again, the child of a genocided people--should each intuit that what hi-tech is doing to the book and to our individual freedoms smacks of nothing less than totalitarianism?
What profoundly amazes and saddens me is that young people who should be the fount of independent thought and revolutionary thinking have been so duped by these gadget-generating greedy corporations that they have actually swallowed, hookm line and sinker, the marketing message that Hi-Tech is the way and the future! It is as if an entire generation has been sold through brilliant marketing that the best way to spend ones life is through obsessive purchase and use of appliances like Washingmachines and
Refrigerators and cars and...oh, but wait. That did happen, didn't it. Right after WWII, during the Eisenhauir era when the man in the gray flannel suit, the corporate man, began his rise on the back of technologies and through corporate sustems that were produced, in large part, to serve the aims of war, now applied to civilian life (including population control). At least them, youth revolted, through rock and roll, Beat Literature and later, the cultural explosion of the 60s. And refrigerators and washingmachines do not a totalitarian society make: Kindles do. Hi-Tech is something altogether different. Hi-Tech and all its systems and devices are addictive,
attention-destroying and soul-sapping. Also, we have a youth population that have been subjected to the most sinisterly effective marketing campaign in human history--one that made the selling of National Socialism or Communism to their respective populations seem like games by comparison. But the end games are the same:
control and domination of our thoughts and actions. How can young people not see that plainly and fail to rise up in outrage and destroy the machine that is systematically devouring them? Instead, Sherman and I are called names and villiified and mocked.
But though we seem like weirdos and cranks to so many of you, we are the only voices in the wilderness arguing for the rescue of your human essence.

From Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-k...mment_35789066

From Evergreen Review:

http://evergreenreview.com/120/elect...k-burning.html

From the Panel: Are Books Dead? Hi-tech and the Written Word:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7seAE...layer_embedded

Okay... I HAVE to get a few things straight.

First, *I* am 51. My *mother* who's a proud owner of a Sony PRS-500 (recently updated to accept ePub and she can't be happier) is 71. So unless you're so freakin' old as to qualify for military retirement benefits from either the War of Northern Aggression or the Great War (WWI for those who don't know what I meant by 'the Great War'), just who are you calling 'youths'?

Second, that Sherman Alexie has stood up to bray the same nonsense as you are putting forth, is a testament more to his own mental decline than any (I'm guessing this is how you think of this.) 'great truth' being 'revealed' by you two.

Third, it is Eisen*HOWER*, you dummy! You'd think that with all the obsessing you've been doing over WWII and the trauma your mother endured, you'd have studied it enought to *know* this! But then, history and facts aren't relevant to you except as to how they can be distorted and manipulated by you to get your twisted view across, yes? (No, spelling it Eisenhauir does NOT qualify as a 'typo'.)

Fourth, you niggling offspring of a knigget and an elderberry bush, we're ridiculing you because you insist upon spamming everyone with your incoherent, hallucinatory, warped, demented and down-right incorrect 'vision', not because we don't like you. (Okay, I'm stretching it a bit here - we *DON'T* like you!)

Have a nice day. And, BTW, I'd really like to know who is your supplier for those medical-quality hallucinogens. I've got some friends who need Christmas gifts.

Derek

[Alexander Turcic]

Uhhm. Attempts to resort to personal insult are unacceptable, from either side. So if you don't want this thread to be closed and/or be banned, please remain respectful to your fellow MobileReaders.