Winding up Winer

I was wound up yesterday by Dave Winer, Berkeley blogger extraordinaire, who first angrily described me a "broken watch" and a serial enflamer, my book as a "piece of trash" and then went on to generously agree with my Cult of the Amateur analysis of the Sarah Palin show which I laid out on the Gillmor Gang last week.

So let me wind up Winer too. It goes without saying, of course, that Dave is a broken watch, his blog is a piece of trash and he only says things to enflame people.

That said....

As a destructive creator, wealthy idealist and innocent cynic, he is a self-described "party of one" American who can't be categorized as anything but Dave Winer. If spiteful, ignorant Sarah Palin represents the unacceptable side of American exceptionalism, then the prickly Winer -- in his moody mix of anger and generosity, of faith and skepticism -- is a less imperfect version of American uniqueness. All his indomitable incorrigibility was on display today when Winer simultaneously castigated and embraced his political enemy -- small town Republican America:

People in Flyover Land, when you lose your manufacturing jobs and are reduced to government handouts, think about how we can work together, not who Did This To You -- for that we all need to look in the mirror. Boy were we blessed, we could have been really smart and worked together, but we didn't. Some of that is the bluestaters' fault because we cared too much about your hatred of us. So be it. That's the past. I believe we still have many blessings, and we're no worse off than anyone else on this planet. But we're also no better than they are either. It's our hubris, our arrogance and ignorance that led us to believe that we were.

Stuck at Gate 14 of the airport yesterday with a nation of Willy Lomans, Peggy Noonen asked Where is America? She should leave Gate 14, jump on a flight to Oakland and have dinner with Winer. Rather than a ghostly Willy Loman, she'll find a full-bloodied American optimist. Here's Winer on why he still has faith in America:

More than any other country, the United States is a product of and part of every other country on the planet. That's our legacy, and our strength, because to get here, our ancestors had to be smart, hard-working and brave. That's the advantage of America.

Comments

[Rupert Lloyd Thomas]

I used to enjoy scripting.com when Dave Winer wrote about computing, but somewhere along the line he lost me. The latest rant made me think: "It's not about you, Dave." The people in the Red States don't hate him - the truth is they don't have a clue who he is. I'm sure he gets his share of hate mail but when you join in the political debate it goes with the territory. I guess he is too thin-skinned for politics.
I've only met Dave once at a Berkman gig at Harvard and I found him to be engaging and affable, if a little up himself and often in denial. He couldn't grasp the fact that the Blackberry comes from Canada: "It must have California venture capital behind it!" He claims to be so well informed but actually suffers from the naivete that he ascribes to the Red States. Anyway this red-baiting is unbecoming.
I wanted to post a, perhaps kinder, response on his blog but it seem he is sulking.

[Mike]

Winer's naivete is part of the general historical myopia of the current generation of the United States. The US has not been the only country chiefly populated by immigrants for 200 years (Canada, Australia, ... heck even look at the modern day Britain, France and Germany). A good deal of the immigrants I've met and worked with in the USA have been seduced by the American Idol model of its culture, eager to make enough money to buy a SUV to get down to the mall and fill up with goodies from CostCo.

The uniqueness of modern America is that it believes its own advertising.

[Vince Williams]

Dave says: "So I am totally Pro Choice, anti-death penalty, and I practice no religion. That's another reason people in the flyover states hate me."

Perhaps-- but really, how many people in the "flyover" states have heard of Dave Winer? I imagine that few of those who have are moved to so strong an emotion as hatred-- more likely they greet his opinions with the same indifference he claims to feel for theirs.

His uncle's Party of One may have thought for itself, but
I can vouchsafe that its mind was often decided by the wishes of its better half.