My Rant/Review of Andrew Keen's Cult of The Amateur

I interviewed him here.
But now I'm going to say what I really think of this book.
By page 100 I really wanted to throw this book across the room and the only thing stopping me was that I don't want to be one of those people you see on tv interviewing authors without reading the book. Plus I set up a group to discuss the book so I should see if others read it and get as angry about it as I did.
So I got through the last half by listing out the lessons I think I'm supposed to be learning from this book provided that I drank the Flavor-aid. (See, I almost said kool-aid, as the author did, except that it is no factually accurate – what was really consumed by Jim Jones was not Kool Aid but Flavor Aid
You know how I found that out? Fact checking. It's an interesting process – Keen might want to try it sometime.
10 Things I Learned (?) From This Book That I'm Pretty Sure Are Not Accurate
1. The Internet destroys lives – making people into compulsive online gamers, break laws (downloading music) and generally becoming jerks. "These days, even the clergy are turning into plagiarists." (Page 140).
2. The Internet is single-handedly responsible for newspaper layoffs and drops in circulation. Journalists looking to do a class action suit against the Internet should, I suspect, contact Mr. Keen immediately via his own blog
3. It's ok to make huge generalizations like this one: "There is no way for a band to become the next super-group." (Page 109)
4. People are stupid and can't tell the difference between a blog, MySpace and news sites (page 3)
5. Wikipedia Has Replaced Traditional Encylcopedias and Has No Editorial Control Despite what You May Have Read About the Site's Editorial Controls in the New York Times recently.
6. Kevin Kelly of Wired Apparently Wants To Destroy Books Which Is Odd Considering Both Kelly and Keen (sort of) Write Books
7. Slate's media critic has changed his name from Jack Shafer to Jack Shafter, unless they made a typo.
8. Matt Drudge "is the poster boy of the citizen journalism movement, flashing his badge of amateurism as a medieval crusader would wield a sword." (Drudge actually has about as much credibility in the citizen journalism movement as Tony Snow)
9. The Internet has destroyed television. "So, instead of the newest drama from Dick Wolfe or Aaron Sorkin, all we'll soon have to watch will be the Paris Hilton channel, cheap knock-offs of existing sitocmes, reality television, or clips from Sam Waterson's video blog." He leaves out that he has his own show on the Internet called, appropriately, AfterTV.
10. Oh god do I have to go on? Ok, final one: People Are Using Fake Names On MySpace! I know, shocking. But it's ok, he has a plan – The site should have tougher security. Oh and he suggests this: "all photos sent to or from minors should be screened for sexual content." Problem solved!
Whew. You know the site Newsvine has as its slogan "Get Smarter Here." I think the slogan on this book should be "Get Dumber Here."