Andrew Keen is famous for being the most outspoken critic of the Web 2.0 Movement, and infamous for his shoddy and overtly biased method of attack which often lacks proper foundation. David Weinberger is a proud enthusiast of the next generation of the internet and believes the changes it is making to human relationships, communication, and society to all be for the best. Both men are of high academic standing, and their range of knowledge spans from philosophy to political science to a versed understanding of todays Web 2.0. For their rigidly opposing viewpoints, they have met publicly on the field of debate on several occasions, but maintained their decency enough to also meet privately to discuss the nature of their opposition.
In an article written by Weinberger titled: “Andrew Keen’s Best Case“, he recounts how Keen’s greatest fault lies in his lack of focus.
Keen is so eager to show that the Internet is killing our culture that he dredges up every Net problem he can. After he’s thrown against the wall most of the known varieties of pasta, from elbow macaroni to spinach linguine, we’re left with a big soggy pile on the floor, and just a few bits that have stuck.
In this respect, Weinberger makes an excellent point regarding the underlying argument from Keen, who is so wrought with distaste for the rising culture of the net, that his rage predominantly clouds his rhetoric throughout his writings. In his book, Cult of the Amateur, Keen sites so many problems that he finds with the internet that it takes nearly all of the two hundred and forty pages for him to satisfactorily state his point. Weinberger cites Keen’s lack of focus as the downfall of his crusade. stating that:
He hurts his own argument by indiscriminately waggling his finger at everything bad he can find on the Web.
Representing the polar opposite, Weinberger brings logic and a lack of temperamental bias to his focused approach to tactfully bring his focus to his readers thoughts. His accusations of Keen’s flamboyancy for attention and flair for judgmental zealously only serve to bring a false identity to the Web and draw the public eye away from the truly troublesome issues facing the fewest generation of the internet.
