I’ve been impressed by Lawrence Lessig’s public speaking and am a fan of his work on projects such as Creative Commons. Still, I didn’t want to drink the Kool-Aid on his book before I’d even cracked the cover, so I tried to start in a defensive position. Knowing full well that I am a reader easily seduced by tidy arguments and good writing, I proceeded from graph to graph with caution.
|
There are passages to poke at and argue over, and I’m sure we’ll get around to plenty of that this week. (For instance, has he presented those Sousa quotes fairly? Something doesn’t smell right about that to me, but that’s just gut. More research required.) Still, as a person who regularly finds herself pounding her head against her desk in frustration when it comes to sorting rights issues in an online environment, to start I’ve just got to say, “Right on!” A lot of the basic ideas Lessig lays out just make sense. Thinking about all forms of media as “writing” in the 21st century (because if you can type, you probably can/are using PhotoShop and iMovie to get your message across as well). Changing copyright rules so they are less like the tax code and more like “No right turn on red” (a.k.a. comprehensible without professional assistance). Separating the professional use of copyrighted material from the amateur use (Sure, go ahead and make a video of your 6-year-old kid dancing to the Chicago Symphony’s recording of The Nutcracker and post it to YouTube for your relatives to see). Early on, Lessig notes that if you’ve seen what good remix is, you’ll get why it says something powerful all its own–so if you need to, go see some (link courtesy Steve Smith).
That said, I think opening and closing the book with a punch of “You’re turning all our remixing/file sharing children into criminals! And I care more than ever about the children now that I’m a dad!” opens the door to too much sappy emotionalism. Even though it’s probably true, it dispersed a whiff of melodrama over the whole book for me that wasn’t needed. But you’ve got to hand it to him, couching his argument in a frame of wasted resources on other unwinnable wars (War on Drugs! War on Terror!) and proposing new views on the economy in the midst of upheaval have got to be in this season.