SECTION THREE
sm
COLUMN TWENTY-ONE, MAY 1, 1997
(Copyright © 1997 Al Aronowitz)
(WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT)
I have only to read one of Frank Beacham's essays to know that I have found a spiritual brother in my journalism-in-exile. By putting his writings on the Internet, Frank is doing the same thing I'm doing: addressing the future. In other words, talking to posterity. I write my pieces as if I'm addressing a friend of mine in cyberspace a thousand years from now. But in Frank, I feel I've found a friend of mine in cyberspace RIGHT NOW! Writing in cyberspace is not the same as chiseling it in stone, but I think stone erodes more easily. I try to write stuff that's going to last and I think Frank does, too. Therefore, it is with great pride and pleasure that I sneak myself the honor of featuring Frank Beacham's page as a pre-eminent link to my own. That's because, in reading his Drowning in "Info" Hype , I immediately felt his mind to be linked to my own. In that one essay, Frank Beacham saw things exactly the way I see 'em. Reading that one essay, I immediately felt my brain connected to his brain.
It took me a long while to get around to reading Frank's page. I'm a one-man operation and, although Frank first contacted me months ago to congratulate me on my column, I just didn't have the time for a thorough inspection of his website. I still don't. I'm so busy writing and editing my own website that there's not much opportunity left for me to do any kind of reading. But, as I've already said, it took me only one of his essays to persuade me that Frank's one of my men. Frank's expertise is in philosophizing about technology, the questioning of which he considers his mission. In Drowning in "Info" Hype , he says:
The Internet is a technological device that gives me the opportunity to be part of its programming and the Internet also gives me the thrill of being able to unite with Frank (whether he likes it or not) in contributing what Frank calls content to the Internet. We guarantee you that we'll be a lot more fun to read than a Microsoft manual. I'm delighted to have discovered Frank's page. And I'm delighted to tie my page to his, (again, whether he likes it or not!) He's got reams and reams of essays to read. First you choose from a list of seven topics. You click on Essays and Technology Criticism like I did and then I scrolled down past such titles as Fear of Flying and A Wireless, Soulless Future? and Bombing Our Freedom and Dark Alleys of the Intenet and Nixon and the Clipper Chip . Each title is attached to a little summary of what the essay is all about. For instance, Nixon and the Clipper Chip :
Each title and capsulated summary reaches out to pull you in. I finally stop at Drowning in "Info" Hype.
How could I resist? I read the whole essay!
Yes, I wanted to read every single other essay Frank'd written, too. But I couldn't. I'll get around to it at another time. At the moment, I was in too much of a rush. I had to hurry back to my keyboard to write these very words. Here he is, Frank Beacham, the new partner I've linked to me (whether he likes it or not): http://www.beacham.com . ##
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