“Just when I was beginning to understand Web 2.0, you’re going to tell me it’s bad?” Naaah. But, as a consumer, you should know the limitations. Further, you don’t want your colleagues, students, or family members exposed to toxic chemicals…wait. I lost the end to this sentence…oh, here it is under my bag of M & Ms. I mean: exposed to concepts about Web 2.0 that may overestimate its value. Consider the following criticisms:
CRITICISMS OF WEB 2.0
1. Keen argues that Web 2.0 undermines the notion of expertise by permitting anyone, anywhere to comment and contribute opinions and post any type of content regardless of knowledge, talent, credentials, or biases. It is assumed that all user-generated content is considered equally valuable and relevant, which is misguided.
2. Flintoff (2007) says that Web 2.0 has created “an endless digital forest of mediocrity: uninformed political commentary, unseemly home videos, embarrassingly amateurish music, unreadable poems, essays, and novels.”
IMPLICATIONS: How accurate is the information you’re reading and sharing? Those are nontrivial issues, as many of us have observed. Maybe these criticisms will refocus or emphasize the role of educators on teaching students how to be discriminating users of Internet resources in addition to producers, sharers, and consumers.
But, wait! Hold on to your wiki. Web 3.0 will address some of these problems as well.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
THE FINAL WORDS OF ANTONIO SALIERI:
“I remained in Vienna—City of Musicians—reverenced by all. And slowly I understood the nature of God’s punishment! What I had begged for in the church as a boy?
Was it not fame? Fame for excellence? Well now I had fame! I was to become quite simply the most famous musician in Europe!
I was to be bricked up in fame! Embalmed in fame! Buried in fame, but for work I knew to be absolutely worthless!
This was my sentence: I must endure thirty years of being called ‘Distinguished’ by people incapable of distinguishing!
I must survive to see myself become extinct!
Mozart’s music sounded louder and louder through the world! And mine faded completely, till no one played it at all!
I will be remembered! I will be remembered! If not in fame, then infamy.
I will whisper my name to you: “Salieri: Patron Saint of Mediocrities!”
[Salieri rises and looks out far into the darkness of the theatre.]
Mediocrities everywhere, now and to come, I absolve you all. Amen!"
[The light fades completely. The last four chords of the Masonic Funeral Music of Mozart sound throughout the theatre. END OF PLAY.] (pp. 93–97)
Shaffer, P. (1980). Amadeus. NY: Harper & Row.
Ruminate over those words for a while. My next 2 blogs will present my reflections on this quote. Let me know yours.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
SIDENOTE: Over the past 2 weeks, Abddaimi Marouane offered a discussion question on the LinkEds & Writers Group on the LinkedIn network: “What is your favorite quote?” He received tons of quote responses, including one of mine. What was unexpected was the response to my quote by several contributors, including Abddaimi’s. The quote was from Peter Shaffer’s Broadway play AMADEUS. Unfortunately, the quote was not repeated in its entirety in the movie version. This blog is devoted to Shaffer’s memorable words.
QUOTE FROM AMADEUS
Writers love the words of other writers that stop them in their tracks, as brought to my attention by Susan Greene. In 1980, I was stopped before I knew I was a writer or had any tracks. I attended a performance of AMADEUS by playwright Peter Shaffer (Equus, Five Finger Exercise) at the National Theatre in Washington, DC, prior to its Broadway run. The play just completed a stint at the National Theatre of Great Britain.
On the surface, this play was about the tragic life of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But it was much more than that. Shaffer tackled the theme of conflict between the unruly genius, represented by Mozart (played by a very young Tim Curry), and disciplined mediocrity, represented by his nemesis Antonio Salieri (played by the brilliant Ian McKellen).
SALIERI'S SOLILOQUY: At the end of the play after Mozart’s death, Salieri, who was by now the successful career musician and court composer to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, reflects on the quality of his life as a composer and his contributions compared to Mozart’s. While Shaffer’s message is not new, its eloquence is worth pondering. Feast your eyes and mind on this gourmet word buffet in Salieri’s soliloquy.
Unfortunately, due to the word-limit of this blog and the length of the quote, it must be deferred until tomorrow. Hold your pondering and feasting. You don’t want to miss those incredible words.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
