May 09, 2007
Disasterously apt metaphors
Couldn't have made this up if I tried. The CEO of Time Warner, Inc. has actually compared traditional media outlets and corporations as the Sioux nation and Google et al as Custer.
This is fantastic. Yes, Google may lose in Viacom v. Google, it's entirely possible. But defeating Custer didn't prevent the Massacre at Wounded Knee or the ultimate marginalization of the Sioux as a significant socio-political force. Today, they fare no better than any other of the American Indian tribes and have been either assimilated into the population at large or scrape out a living on reservations. Old media may be entrenched on the ground and fancies itself as having some kind of moral high ground, but Google represents the new settlers on the digital frontier, and even if they're bloodied after this particular battle, you can't turn back the clock or make them go away.
I really don't think that's what Richard Parsons was getting at, but I think that's what's going to happen. Couldn't have said it better myself.
