kurtiss.org | giving is receiving

I love the Gillmor Gang and Gillmor Daily podcasts. I love the Evil Genius Chronicles. Although I identify more with Dave (The Evil Genius/Original Uplifter), my brain is usually exercised more by Steve Gillmor’s shows, when I can listen to them without having to adjust the volume for each speaker. I was disappointed then, to hear the way Steve responded to Dave’s criticism of Gillmor/Podshow supporter, Earthlink.

My biggest problem isn’t that Steve talks about his daughter, prematurely plays his advertisements, or even spends time defending the ad. My problem is that he continues to rehash the same point and refuses to raise the level of discourse in response to Dave’s actual criticisms. I understand that underground media’s path from obscurity to mainstream acceptance will likely be through mainstream advertisers and supporters. So what. Dave’s primary criticism, which has yet to be addressed by Steve, is the content of the ad itself: it’s not creative, informative, or effectual. Steve’s target audience is probably overwhelmingly comprised of better than average critics of low signal-to-noise BS—which makes the content of the ad even worse in this context.

In ways, Steve Gillmor is actually an uplifter: he supports independence and autonomy through individual ownership of attention. This means he understands the value of a gesture. If I (and others) are willing to freely donate our gestures in regards to the content of these advertisements, then Steve should should understand the value we place on the cause of making them better. He, and more appropriately, Earthlink, should understand then, that ignored gestures create frustrated attenders.