If Markets are conversations, some people should just shut up

The great American writer, performer, antagonist and philosopher Jello Biafra once said (referring to corporate sponsorship of entertainment):

These bastards must be fought when they try to … not exactly ’steal’ our culture so much as stamp ownership on it – kind of like the ‘Mark of the Beast!’

Now we have the finest (and I do mean finest) example yet of mainstream media money and personalities stamping their ownership on blogging and alternative media.

Arianna Huffington, about as mainstream as you can get without actually having a reality show, has brought us The Huffington Post.

Beside the obvious question (Will it suck? Will anyone tell Arthur Schlesinger that you don’t fax blog entries?), the bigger issue is what’s the point?

Does anyone really care what Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Geffen, Rob Reiner, Albert Brooks, Bill Maher, Larry David and a host of other B-list usual suspects think when their every thought and move is already shoved down our throats 24/7? And do they really need to blog to get their opinions out?

Here’s a gem from the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz:

Says political activist Laurie David, wife of the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star: “Early every morning, we’re at the kitchen table reading the papers, and within three minutes one of us is screaming. This is going to be a channel for that.”

The arrogance in that quote is astounding. Yes Ms. David, you have a channel, you have plenty of channels. And I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. America would appreciate if you and your friends would just keep their opinions to themselves for a change.

The reason people blog is not (paraphrasing Ms. Huffington) to throw a few ideas out there and see what sticks. The reason that 10 million people signed up for Live Journal, TypePad and Blogger accounts or downloaded WordPress or Movable Type is because they are frankly sick and tired of the constant barrage of fluff from the likes of Arianna Huffington and her fab-o friends.

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