Ok the title was a play on the stage genre, Theatre of the Absurd, and it doesn't quite work. But then again. Folks in the blogosphere are sure wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth over the PayPerPost thing and the little war between Pete Wright and Jason Calacanis keeps getting testier and testier. Michael Arrington says PayPerPost is now officially absurd. I still don't get it.
I'm not a fan of PayPerPost, but hey, blog fortunes rise and fall on advertising, some of it is plainly disclosed and some isn't. Those who think PayPerPost spoils some sort of blogosphere purity are preaching from some pretty shaky pulpits in my opinion. And besides, it was going to happen anyway. It is just a part of human nature to come up with a way to spoil something by monetizing it. I think some call it evolution. Some may even call it Intelligent Design. I just call it humans trying to make a buck. But PayPerPost certainly leapt into the realm of Ionesco with their newest salvo. They've launched a new initiative called DisclosurePolicy.org to discuss the "delicate balance between content creator freedoms and audience transparency expectations."
So, let's take a look at how close the Blogosphere of the Absurd lines up with the Theatre of the Absurd. One of the traits of the Theatre of the Absurd is that its themes swirled around the impermanence of values (hmmm? permanence in teh blogosphere?) challenged the validity of conventions (hmm?) and dwelled on just how precarious human life was and at times how meaningless. I guess they do line up. After all life in the blogosphere is measured in page rank and there's nothing more stable than that.
In any event it is fun watching. I'm just not sure how the players line up. Let's see is Arrington Camus or Genet? Is Calacanis Beckett? And Pete Wright? I'm thinking at the moment he's more like Antonin Artaud and his Theatre of Cruelty for all the attacks he's taking, but he seems to like the fight. Again, Artaud.
For even more of the absurd, listen to the recent Gillmor Gang podcasts. I'd link to them but the host doesn't like that. Absurd? Surreal? You decide.
