Thursday, October 14, 2004

Jeff Jarvis takes on Tom Friedman, loses. Jarvis: "I don't long for the day when terrorism is a nuisance. I long for the day when terrorism is history." Terrorism is a tactic, Jeff. It's not something that can be eliminated. Sorry that you got suckered by Friedman on the war, but if terrorism maintains a consistently high mindshare, then (yes, I'm really going to say it) the terrorists have won. I'm guessing that Tom Friedman, like Jeff and like me, would like to see the current crop of terrorists terminated with extreme prejudice. But that's not the same thing as brushing terrorism onto the dustbin of history. It's a distinction that matters. To be fair, the word "nuisance" used by John Kerry, and defended by Friedman, does sound a bit trivial. But to set up a scenario in which which we are "at war" until "terrorism is history" misstates the problem and has dangers of its own. 6:44:52 PM    comment []

Mark Taylor in the Times: What Derrida Really Meant  "When responsibly understood, the implications of deconstruction are quite different from the misleading clichés often used to describe a process of dismantling or taking things apart. The guiding insight of deconstruction is that every structure - be it literary, psychological, social, economic, political or religious - that organizes our experience is constituted and maintained through acts of exclusion. In the process of creating something, something else inevitably gets left out." Taylor addresses what Derrida didn't mean, too: "Many of Mr. Derrida's most influential followers...[betrayed] Mr. Derrida's insights by creating a culture of political correctness, his self-styled supporters fueled the culture wars that have been raging for more than two decades and continue to frame political debate." "To his critics, Mr. Derrida appeared to be a pernicious nihilist who threatened the very foundation of Western society and culture. By insisting that truth and absolute value cannot be known with certainty, his detractors argue, he undercut the very possibility of moral judgment. To follow Mr. Derrida, they maintain, is to start down the slippery slope of skepticism and relativism that inevitably leaves us powerless to act responsibly." 6:32:55 PM    comment []

Dave Winer: "The obvious reason Lynne Cheney is upset that Kerry talked about their gay daughter in last night's debate is that their love for their daughter contradicts the Republican policy of limiting the rights of gay people." 5:37:01 PM    comment []

The woman sitting next to me at the gate at O'Hare was reading Furniture Today, so I asked her (duh) if she was headed to Market. She was. Says she has no desire to go to a Las Vegas market, but her customers are raring to move -- they want more hotels, less renting of houses, more restaurants, less "old style thinking." Anecdotal evidence that High Point had better get its act together. 5:28:14 PM    comment []

Home. I think our show went well. I interviewed Tyco CIO Dana Deasy onstage after his keynote. He's got a hell of a story, so my job was pretty easy. 5:25:30 PM    comment []

Court: the ultimate no-spin zone. Allegations of bad behavior dog Bill O'Reilly. 9:25:31 AM    comment []

A beautiful sunrise over Lake Michigan, pink light along the horizon beneath low clouds, rays coming through like they were put there by a Renaissance painter. A nice view over room service breakfast. Then, showtime: I'm here to do an onstage Q&A with the keynote speaker at a ZD event for corporate chief information officers. And then, they let me go home. 8:35:16 AM    comment []