Valued Readers:
Once again, it's been a while since I've posted anything. Truth is, contrarian to a fault, I've been hiding out on Facebook. Can't be assed with Twitter while it's getting all this media attention. Not safe. Must go against the flow. Like manic salmon. Must write many short sentences. Anyway, that's where I've been. Drop around.
Meanwhile in actual news, I finally got my hands on the new Cluetrain book last week. See cool cover art at right. It'll be shipping by the end of the month but if you pre-order now (pretty please) you'll be the first one on your block, etc.
This 10th anniversary edition -- how time flies when you're in intractable psychic agony! -- includes the complete original text plus additional chapters by all the authors, as well as contributions from Jake McKee, Dan Gillmor and JP Rangaswami. It also comes with a complete set of Ginsu Steak Knives -- a $49.95 value! (Offer valid in US only, except in lower 48 states, Alaska and Hawaii.)
My new chapter is titled "Obedient Poodles for God and Country" and touches on themes that should ring a bell if you've been tracking Mystic Bourgeoisie. Here's a clip.
... Which brings us back to Oprah in Obama's front row. And why that scares me. Oprah has been the vector for many of those "signs & portents" Mystic Bourgeoisie alludes to. One recent example is her "Soul Series," which began with Oprah "co-teaching," via the web, with Eckhart Tolle, whose book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, she'd just chosen for her far-famed book club. And naturally, it's all online.
By way of introduction, Oprah sez, "Welcome to our very first live world-wide interactive event. We are here tonight breaking new ground. Nothing like this has ever been attempted before. Right now, you all are online with me from every corner on our planet."
I dunno. The never-been-attempted claim could be challenged by any number of hot girls with webcams. If anything, Oprah seems more than just fashionably late to the web party.
And Tolle sez, "It's everybody's responsibility to become aware of their conditioned mental processes: how you react in everyday situations, what kind of thoughts go through your head. It's good to not amplify the negativity that you see around you in the world by reacting to it."
Um... you mean like reading this sort of thing and reminding anyone who will listen that your rap is basically recycling the same sort of Mystic Orientalia that Emerson and Thoreau unleashed upon an unsuspecting Puritan New England (when they weren't sowing beans and cheesing off the Harvard faculty), or Madame Blavatsky with her Theosophy (when she wasn't pontificating on the Lost Continent of Atlantis), or Rudolf Steiner, founder of the Waldorf Schools, with his stories about how Buddha taught the Mars Men (I wish I were kidding), or... well... You mean like that?
Contra Tolle, I think it's not only "good" to amplify the negativity we see around us by vaguely "reacting" to it, but more specifically by deconstructing, dissecting and calling it what it is. In this case, ten pounds of shit in a two-pound bag. Is this what we've come to as a culture? Body by Barbie, epistemology by "What the Bleep"?
Probably not what "the business community" (whatever TF that means) is expecting, but hey, I had fun writing it. Why, I feel positively self-actualized!
btw, if you have an obscenely huge blog or write for what they used to call "the legitimate press" (I never did discover why), send me your name, address, serial number, incept and sell-by dates, along with a pitch for why Basic Books should send you a review copy. I have no idea if they will, or how many may be available, but if it seems reasonable, I'll present your case. Dropping a C-note on my PayPal button might help -- but for that you could buy six copies, so who am I really kidding here?
Meanwhile, I'm working on something big for Mystic B. Stay tuned.
RB
