Friday, December 5, 2003

Via Jim Moore In the woods. My son in the woods..a big snow blizzard is coming tonight! See weather for our area.. [Jim Moore's cybernetics, politics, emergence, etc.] 9:37:07 PM

SnoCountry Ski Report SnoCountry Ski Conditions - Via Yahoo News 8:53:37 PM

Notes Including Stevie Wonder Speech at Harvard, 1984 (In Real Audio) Third Path: Kaye Trammell, Stevie Wonder, Dave Winer, and Missy Elliot. Kaye Trammell is one of the nicest folks out there.  She studies celebrity, and celebrities blogging, and so forth. She is also a public affairs officer in the Navy Reserve, and gave an appreciative link to my piece last night about the Open Source Naval Intelligence blog. Speaking of celebrity, I wonder if those who are becoming celebrities in the blogging world could give more thought to their own new found power, responsibilities, and opportunities to help others.  My sense is that there are a number of folks who could do with a bit of personal ethical reflection (myself included).  We need to do some thinking about our individual and community values, and what sort of future we want to create for ourselves. You can laugh about the ethics of Hollywood and hip-hop-wood and so forth, but "real" celebrities are encouraged to think about their celebrity-hood, and the best one's make something positive of it. Almost 20 years ago in 1984 Stevie Wonder spoke (yes, spoke) at Harvard Law School, invited by the graduating class.  He talked about attention, and the special energy, borne of attention, that comes to celebrities and how, fair or not, it brings real power to a few individuals in our society.  For him, attention came to him as "Little Stevie Wonder" at age 12.  When fame strikes, Stevie said, each of us have just three choices.  We can reject fame, in which case eventually the world turns away and the power of celebrity-hood goes away.  We can accept fame and use it's special energy for our own selfish ends.  Stevie Wonder noted that doing this usually drives the person insane. (Hmmm, so that's what happens..) Or we can accept fame but consciously turn it's energy around and give generously to others.  We can become redirectors of energy.  In the blog world, I suppose this includes redirecting of "flow."  And it also means using our leadership opportunities to build the community, not to build just ourselves and our allies. Remarkably, Stevie Wonder's talk is available in Quicktime video at the WGBH web site. It is also available in audio on RealAudio at the Berkman  Center site.  I recommend it highly!   For a current example of the third path, check out Missy Elliot's refreshing path to celebrity in today's NYT. I think that Dave's recent concerns about "working together" are concerns that blogging community celebrities embrace their leadership and find Stevie Wonder's third path.  BTW, not easy for Hollywood stars, not easy for Dave, and not easy for any of the rest of us--stars or not. [Jim Moore's cybernetics, politics, emergence, etc.] 8:05:42 PM