NPR And FastCompany
- Posted on: Jul. 14, 2008
- 33 Comments
A year ago, Lynne Johnson of Fast Company had the following to say about the TechNigga videos:
“I continue to follow this “opera” because I have followed you, even at times when I felt you were just ranting. So it’s all a joke — these closed cliques of a-listers and invite only networks — and if that’s not social media, then what is? … I’m not hating where you’re going here, I’m just not all there with you yet. I still feel something dangerous about it all. It’s all very close to the edge.” By Lynne d Johnson on Aug 7, 2007
Nearly a year later, after I’ve been making fun of two people who make horrible videos for Fast Company, Lynne talks to NPR and changes her tune. In the piece the reporter implies that I’m on drugs and Lynne misrepresents the content of the video and declares that I’m a racist.
NPR ran a horrible one-sided piece, using a single biased source, who is now fully discredited by her own words. After it ran, NPR called and offered to give me five minutes to “clear the air.” That’s an interesting strategy to fill airtime. I’m not interested in playing that game.
Needless to say it’s been an interesting week in the media. Jesse Jackson apparently used a “racial slur” that not even Fox News would air, Bernie Mac did jokes at an Obama fund raiser talking about “hoes”, and none other than The New Yorker is forced to defend a satire that some say might be too complex for “average folks” to understand. Those who didn’t understand where I was going with TechNigga the first time might want to give it another view.
Miss Johnson held a conference at this years SXSW conference titled “Where are all the black tech bloggers” Since the title of the conference was the same as my work I chose to attend the conference out of respect for her and black bloggers.
Here is the raw unedited footage of Miss Johnson and her panel having a conversation with me. The video comes in as the panelists compares me to a DJ who made remarks about competitors children.
I’ll again apologize to those new viewers who were hotlinked here under false pretenses. I’d also like to apologize to Miss Johnson for things I said in anger after seeing her misrepresentations to NPR.
I would invite NPR, Lynne Johnson and FastCompany to review their actions and make whatever corrective actions they feel are appropriate.
For a final word on the controversy, I’ll defer to this excellent piece by Tyme White.
Posted in 1938 Media, Ed Sussman, FastComapany, Lynne D. Johnson, Mansueto Digital, NPR
I hope this is the end.
Can’t we get back to hearing how comments are rubbish again.
Loved that.
ReplyI think a better question might be “Where are the audience members?” Was it really as empty as it looked in htere?
Replyman oh man…
ReplyPersonally I’m waiting for NPR to do a hit piece on Yue being a man.
It’s important to know when to fight and when to drink your beer by the water and savor the cool breeze.
If you throw rocks, you break windows.
Here endeth the lesson.
ReplyYou put a group of people on a stage, you give them an audience and a microphone and you have yourself a panel of experts who are able to deal with the problems.
There are certain panels on this planet that really are chaired by experts. This may not have been one of them.
I’m thinking of ‘expert’ and ‘problem’ in reference to the lyrics of the Laurie Andersen piece, ‘Only an Expert’.
If you don’t know the track, you can listen to it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvhfSH9CbCw
Watching Lynne Johnson in this video, three things come to mind: One, her personal attack on Loren might have been acceptable had she and the event organiser had the courage to let him openly defend himself and engage in dialogue. Two, LJ’s libellous outburst immediately removed all credibility from her denunciation of LF as an alleged ‘bigot’. Three, the Internet is full of drama and I don’t even have to pay to see it.
ReplyFuck all that crap, what really sucks is this: July 7, 2008 – 12:33 pm = one week, no video. Really bad for Feldman-addicts like me.
ReplyI wonder if LJ ever saw Borat? Is Sascha Baron Cohen a bigot for portraying people from Kazahstan in an unflattering manner?
Humor is SUPPOSED to go “very close to the edge”, to question taboos etc. If someone cannot handle the subtleties, they should go drink milk and watch Full House bloopers.
ReplyWe have become an extremely soft nation. Unwilling and unable to deal with reality in any case that sits even a few degrees off that which makes us comfortable. We want the world on our own personal terms. We feel we have a right to craft a daily existence that shields us from having to deal with the often harsh reality of the world.
It’s a sickness. The inability to function in a world that is full of offensive ideas and even outright conflict leads to a generation of weak and maladjusted people.
This is merely one small instance of manufactured outrage, but it exists amongst a much larger pattern of similar events.
Watching these unfold from the sidelines leads one to come to the conclusion that a culture that is unable to deal with uncomfortable ideas is one that is setting itself up to be absolutely steamrolled if and when a real battle should arise.
ReplyLoren, I think you should clarify in your post that the first woman speaking in the video — the one who used the word bigot — is NOT Lynne Johnson.
Lynne is the second woman who speaks in the video, towards the end.
Reply@Andrew Eglinton and @timkl — that’s not Lynne Johnson making those remarks. She comes in at the end of the video.
Compare this video to the NPR audio track and you’ll hear that’s not her voice making the “bigot” remark.
ReplyI think we’re starting to figure out that it’s harder to be taken out of context when you write your blog posts instead of video taping them…
Reply“Where are all the black tech bloggers” Since the title of the conference was the same as my work I chose to attend the conference out of respect for her and black bloggers.
So Loren, are you inferring that black tech bloggers and technigga are the same?
whoa that is out of sight.
You are such an hypocrite ! that is pathetic…
ReplyNo, Dana - Feldmans post was actually titled “Where are all the black tech bloggers?”:
http://www.1938media.com/where-are-the-black-tech-bloggers/
ReplyDude.. All this is being Circulated on Craigslist, Did you hire team??
ReplyLoren, it is over. There is no home or space for satire or humor anymore. Good satire and humor makes people think, sometimes about uncomfortable things. We can’t have that. Making people think means they have to get out of the false warm and fuzzy bubbles they create.
It is like asking the kid soccer leagues to actually keep score. You can’t risk busting the I’m alright, you’re alright shell that protects everyone’s feelings.
Look at Owyang and his take on Eric Spillman being mean to the sensitive geeks.
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/07/14/video-how-not-to-interview-the-tech-audience/
I mean, really, if that gets a response like that, what chance does any person that actually pushes the envelope have?
I thought that was funny as hell.
Get back to the vids, man. I miss them.
Cheers,
ReplyEban
Hey Dude - I’ve been watching your stuff for a while. Your a big piece of shit with nothing to say. You attacked a man and you was proud of it. No you are under attack and you piss in your pants.
ReplyYou are done finished gone. No one will EVER work with you again.
Remember - WHEN YOU’RE IN A HOLE STOP DIGGING!
Welcome to 1938Media.Com..By the way..pass the snuff !!
ReplyAwaiting the celebration that will occur when FastCompany hits the Dead Pool.
Rock on.
ReplyI’m ready to see your next project and again hope that this situation doesn’t stop major brands from sponsoring future video bloggers. Let’s all move on.
Loren I would like to interview not on the past but on the future of media/internet/videos and mobile video and where do you see it going.
Wayne
ReplyIt’s pretty clear that neither NPR nor Lynne know the meaning of satire. Satire is an ancient art that goes way back to the Romans (at least), and the satirist (the clown) has always done whatever the fuck he wanted, using exaggeration, ridicule, sarcasm, irony, etc to deliver a point in a subtle way. The only limit is the law.
That’s the whole point of satire. If you don’t understand how it works you should read more. If you are offended by it, then you’re just stupid, because you can’t see beyond yourself.
ReplyLynne Johnson and that other cretin are idiots and should be fired.
Replyyou know why there are no black tech bloggers? because it’s hard to carry a laptop and a watermelon at the same time.
ReplyFunny how the minute you start talking, you started shaking all over the place. Couldn’t even hold the camera straight for a few seconds
Why did you start shaking like a little boy?
You afraid of her?
ReplyThis is clearly the reason why I live in Europe, and not on the other side of the Pond.
Reply@skip: I wrote that joke nearly a year ago. It was incendiary then and probably not helpful now.
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s not a very good joke. It’s actually pretty easy to carry a laptop and a watermelon at the same time. I mean, even a monkey could do it. Of course, he’d have to stop smoking crack long enough to try it.
To eliminate all future race problems on the web, I propose a new icon: a smiley face, but black instead of yellow. Big lips are optional–I’ll leave that to the designer.
This icon can be used by sensitive white folks like myself who not only “tolerate” black people but frequently live with and lust after them, too. Word out.
ReplyI think Tyme said it perfectly,
“Here’s an idea: don’t get mad at the person that brings the behavior to light. Get mad at everyone who uses the behavior, regardless of race.”
Great country we live in, huh…
ReplyI wanna see the Shel Isreal puppet interview Lynne Johnson.
ReplyI think you should go on NPR, but tell them that you’ll only do an interview if it’s live and unedited. They’ll probably then retract the offer, and you can tell people that NPR is afraid of you.
ReplyThe purpose of satire is to expose our unseen attitudes about things; it exaggerates for effect. Satire that doesn’t make SOMEONE uncomfortable is poor satire. Satirists know, for certain, that if they’re successful, someone will be angry with them and others will be made uncomfortable by having their unseen attitudes revealed. That’s why satire makes us laugh, to manage the discomfort. We groan a lot when we laugh at satire, like someone hit us in the gut.
It’s what happens AFTER the anger and/or discomfort wears off that’s important to the satirist. If nothing happens, the satirist has failed in a second way. But if the satire leads to reflection and to changes in attitudes and behavior, then the satirist has succeeded.
Gotta go find the NPR cut.
ReplyThe Tyme White article is a must read.
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