The Pirate's Dilemma

I feel like I should say a word or two about Matt Mason's The Pirate's Dilemma.

Mostly, I didn't like it.

1) It was based on a naive understanding of the nature of capitalism. Mason seemed to envision capitalism as an intensely innovative force driven by healthy competition and renewed by subversive youth cultures. This assumption sets the precedent for The Pirate's Dilemma, and, I would argue, is a very mainstream-conservative conception of capitalism. I prefer Joel Koval's definition:

"[Capitalism] is a spectral apparatus that integrates earlier modes of domination, especially that by gender, and generates a gigantic force field of profit-seeking that polarizes all human activity and sucks it into itself." (159, The Enemy of Nature)

The book was unable to successfully contextualize social media because it was based on a naive ideology. And, no matter how excited you get about it, 'punk capitalism' is surely just as much an oxymoron as 'green capitalism'.

2) The entire book seemed to be written in the spirit of selling youth culture for capitalist appropriation. It was a marketing pitch, not an honest defense of DIY counterculture. Sure, Mason was advocating for web 2.0, but he was doing so on the premise of profits-to-come. His enthusiasm was tiresome and ultimately seemed superficial.

I just couldn't get excited about it.