A parabolic theory of the interwebs
Atrios chortles about many revelations from John McCain’s New York Times interview, including this one: Q: Do you use a blackberry or email? Mr. McCain: No. What’s interesting is that McCain is not the only luminary who fits this category. We’ve known for some time, for example, that Condoleezza Rice does not use e-mail; I ...
Atrios chortles about many revelations from John McCain's New York Times interview, including this one: Q: Do you use a blackberry or email? Mr. McCain: No. What's interesting is that McCain is not the only luminary who fits this category. We've known for some time, for example, that Condoleezza Rice does not use e-mail; I would wager she does not use a Blackberry. It's not just Republicans. Gail Sheehy, in her Vanity Fair story on Hillary Clinton's campaign, reveals that, "Bill Clinton still doesn’t use e-mail or own a BlackBerry." Here's my question -- is is that shocking that a major party candidate for president, a secretary of state, and a former-head-of-state-turned-head-of-a-major-international NGO don't use the interwebs like you or me? To be sure, using the internet has always been strongly correlated with education and income. One would expect, therefore, that as one's professional standing rises, so does their e-mail access/Blackberry usage. However, I could also speculate that, after a certain point, the most precious commodity someone has is time, and therefore one can outsource aides to notify you of urgent e-mails and breaking news. Indeed, as one hits Davos-level elite status, I can see there being an incentive to free one's self of any tethers to the interwebs, giving off the appearance of not needing to be connected to the web 24/7. I honestly don't know -- it might just be that politicians like McCain, Rice and Clinton are outliers. Are they out of touch, too important for the Internet, or both?
Atrios chortles about many revelations from John McCain’s New York Times interview, including this one:
Q: Do you use a blackberry or email? Mr. McCain: No.
What’s interesting is that McCain is not the only luminary who fits this category. We’ve known for some time, for example, that Condoleezza Rice does not use e-mail; I would wager she does not use a Blackberry. It’s not just Republicans. Gail Sheehy, in her Vanity Fair story on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, reveals that, “Bill Clinton still doesn’t use e-mail or own a BlackBerry.” Here’s my question — is is that shocking that a major party candidate for president, a secretary of state, and a former-head-of-state-turned-head-of-a-major-international NGO don’t use the interwebs like you or me? To be sure, using the internet has always been strongly correlated with education and income. One would expect, therefore, that as one’s professional standing rises, so does their e-mail access/Blackberry usage. However, I could also speculate that, after a certain point, the most precious commodity someone has is time, and therefore one can outsource aides to notify you of urgent e-mails and breaking news. Indeed, as one hits Davos-level elite status, I can see there being an incentive to free one’s self of any tethers to the interwebs, giving off the appearance of not needing to be connected to the web 24/7. I honestly don’t know — it might just be that politicians like McCain, Rice and Clinton are outliers. Are they out of touch, too important for the Internet, or both?
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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