Anthony Barnett (London, OK): While suffering from a bad cold I got a very interesting long email from David Marquand who started with our Networking Democracy initiative, and said
I like the idea in principle, but the tone of the comments both on the OurKingdom piece and on your Guardian piece is so deeply depressing that I have to say I doubt if anything of great (or even any) value will come out of the exercise. The trouble with internet communication is that people blast off the first thing that comes into their head, without thinking through a coherent argument. There is a discipline in writing for print publication which the internet loses; and the gains in spontaneity and freshness (which are real) are outweighed by the loss in responsibility and accountability. The more I see of it the more I feel that internet communication is rather like a conversation in an overcrowded pub, where everyone is shouting so loudly that they can’t hear anyone else, much less think about what other people (or for that matter they themselves) are saying.
I know what he means although it is a little bit unfair on OK - I told a couple of CiFers how I felt. However there are also constructive reflections popping up across blogland such as a thoughtful one from Podnosh who also links to the connected republic. Jon is away in Florence we'll post up more of the responses when we can. But CAN YOU HEAR ME?
