MANIFESTO

From left to right:
Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte, 1995
Reality Hunger: A Manifesto by David Shields, 2010
You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier, 2010

(Interestingly, all three are published by Alfred A. Knopf.)

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I am screaming at a book!

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I have been moved and provoked and challenged by many books, but there are very few that I have found cause to yell at or converse with out loud. I distinctly remember Nicholas Negroponte's Being Digital as one of those rare volumes that I madly argued with as though Negroponte was present in the room.

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I find that I am doing the same thing with David Shields's Reality Hunger. I actually said to the room, "Oh, come on, David, that is bullshit!" Then I realized that I was speaking aloud.

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I find that I am nodding my head in agreement with many of the pieces of Reality Hunger, more so than I am taking issue with it.

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I checked out both manifestos—of Shields and of Lanier—as soon as I realized they were being published and would soon be available. I quickly realized that I would need my own copy of each. I don't write in my books, but I will mark and highlight passages (with Book Darts) and type up notes on my readings. I realized I will be spending some time with these books, both in the immediate and long-term.

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I still pull my copy of Being Digital off of the bookshelf to talk to it, to rant at Negroponte.

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Reality Hunger begins in a rather clunky fashion that it quickly discards. It establishes a rhythm that keeps moving at a rather brisk pace.

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I keep checking the back of the book for the sources of Shields's material. I don't have to, but I find comfort in doing so. It is interesting to see the threads of thought that are informing those of Shields and the conversation that is having with those voices.

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manifesto: noun. [1] A public declaration or proclamation; esp. a printed declaration or explanation of policy (past, present, future) issued by a monarch, State, political party or candidate, or any other individual or body of individuals of public relevance. [2] A proof, a piece of evidence. (from the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, fifth edition)

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Negroponte, Shields, and Lanier are all "individuals of public relevance," all having connections to the academy, the internet, the public sphere. They are each declaring something about from whence we have come, where we are, where it appears we may be heading, and where they hope we will actually arrive.

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I speak too much and read too little. I need to read before I speak any further.

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Lurking in the background of all of this noise is William T. Vollmann's Kissing the Mask: Beauty, Understatement and Feminity in Japanese Noh Theater: With Some Thoughts on Muses (Especially Helga Testorf), Transgender Women, Kabuki Goddesses, Porn Queens, Poets, Housewives, Makeup Artists, Geishas, Valkyries and Venus Figures, which I am also currently reading. The connection may not be clear (even to myself), but Vollmann is trying to glimpse the reality behind the masks that we construct for our selves, and, hence, is really carrying on the same conversation that Negroponte, Shields, and Lanier are having with the culture.

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I end with the final line of the preface of Lanier's book, especially relevant to a fast-food, Facebook, instant gratification culture; and then with silence (for a brief while).

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"I want to say: You have to be somebody before you can share yourself."
—page ix, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto by Jaron Lanier