Swans 10th Anniversary
by Eli Beckerman
(Swans - May 8, 2006) Before the dot-com boom, there was Swans.com.
The concentrated power of print, radio, and television was giving way to small people like Gilles d'Aymery and Jan Baughman and their revolutionary new medium. Monopolies on ideas, and the commercialization of those ideas, were going to have to make room for the democratizing impact of the World Wide Web.
Of course, it would not be long before the "Information Superhighway" would be utilized to its fullest profit-squeezing potential. Even small, decentralized efforts would succumb to this trend, and buy-outs and conglomeratization would expedite the process. Just like the endless stream of "socially responsible businesses" getting bought out by socially destructive businesses, the space for dialogue, debate, dissent, thought, activism and advocacy has been twisting itself into a corporatized knot. Want to fight for social justice? Sign up at social-justice@yahoogroups.com! Every inch of the Web had to justify itself in dollars, and soon nearly every inch of it did.
But not every inch.
Swans.com has embraced something completely distinct -- that to not play the game, one must not play it. Swimming against the current ain't easy, but the preservation of this non-commercial space is crucial. The spirit of collectivism at Swans provides a clear contrast to the compartmentalism of the Blogosphere and general individualism of American society. Keeping it going for 10 years is nothing short of a small rebellion.
After the dot-com boom, there was Swans.com.
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