I am going to keep this short and to the point. My title here is the headline to a story Wired has up that is hard to comprehend. In it they use the phrases Catch-22 and Kafka-esque. Here is how it ends:
Wired has been trying to get NYPD press credentials for freelancer Quinn Norton, who is on special assignment to cover the Occupy movement. Even before this week’s arrests, the NYPD made it clear they would not issue her credentials, as she first had to comply with Kafka-esque rules, such as proving she’d already covered six on-the-spot events in New York City — events that you would actually need a press pass to cover.
When I asked if six stories on Occupy Wall Street would count, Sarubbi said no.
I then tried to make the case that issuing press passes to legitimate reporters might help prevent arrests and prevent police from beating reporters, as happened to two journalists for the conservative Daily Caller on Thursday, and that the lack of spots until January seemed odd, and Sarubbi got angry.
“Don’t tell me how to do my job and I won’t tell you how to do yours,” she said.
Sarubbi then hung up without even a goodbye.
I worked with some folks that might be the "core" audience of Wired. Not the cover stories, but the blogs and other stuff you can find on their site if you dig past the "main" page. Not "hipsters" that are looking to start the next Facebook. But programmers. Hackers.
My experience is, and I feel very safe saying the vast majority of these folks are libertarians. Some, frankly anarchist. Of course not all of them, but a striking number of them hate both parties. Wired is starting to cover this more. So is Boing Boing. It is expanding to even more "geeky" sites. Underground sites.
If these folks I speak of, the hackers and hard core programmers start to get involved. Well I don't think banks and other groups have any clue what they are getting themselves into.
You know, just saying.