‘My country, right or wrong,’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober.’
G.K. Chesterton
Dear Vorticians,
This one’s a bit off the beaten path. But, hey, it’s nearly the Fourth of July, we’re all heading into the long weekend marking the onset of the summer doldrums and, besides, no one wants to live on a steady diet of technology issues alone. You wouldn’t want to eat hot dogs and burgers every day, would you?
I’ve been struck recently by a real dichotomy in the two worlds that I – and you – inhabit.
Our technology world – the world of marketing hype, speeds and feeds, press tours, new funding rounds, product announcements and the like – is slowly but surely returning to normal. Not the ‘normal’ of the late ’90s, nor the ‘normal’ of the early 2000s. Rather, we’ve largely refocused on the basics of building, selling and deploying technology. It just feels more natural. I think you’d agree.
People are excited about a big, impending IPO (Google, home of VORTEX Advisory Board member Lise Buyer). Other, smaller but equally innovative companies have announced plans for IPOs, such as VORTEX sponsor Motive, and some successful tech IPOs have taken place of late – including that of VORTEX AB member Marc Benioff’s Salesforce.com.
There’s healthy M&A activity; tech buyers in both the enterprise and the service provider markets are spending more money; and investors are having to hustle to get a piece of the interesting new startups before their competitors do. Innovation is blossoming, addressing problems and opportunities in security, mobility, collaboration, convergence, distributed applications and other critical areas.
The dark clouds are moving off and the sun-dappled landscape looks familiar and, better yet, comfortable.
Contrast that to the world at large, a world that grows more threatening, darker and polarized by the moment. It’s difficult to see anything but more pain, more fear and more anger looking down the path we’re heading. Things promise to get more unsettled with each passing day.
Terrorism and fundamentalism seem intractable problems. Despite the ceremonial handover of power in Iraq, conducted without pomp and circumstance this week, none of us harbors any illusions about a quick resolution of the situation in Iraq, or in Afghanistan or the Middle East at large. Whatever you think of the other industrialized nations, our relations with many of them are deeply damaged and at a decades-long low point.
The political mood in this country is, in a word, ugly. Our leaders don’t just disagree on issues, they accuse each other of lying and distorting facts, profiteering, waffling and other equally vile wrongs. As we rapidly approach the presidential election, it’s clear that most people are voting against John Kerry or George W. Bush rather than for either of the candidates. The level of vitriol is at an all-time high, something that’s evident to anyone who’s listened to talk radio (either the conservative or Howard Stern ilk) or the ubiquitous Michael Moore. In fact, Moore’s documentary (?) “Fahrenheit 9/11” is a perfect sign of the times.
As we near the 208th anniversary of the founding of America, the average Joe or Jane finds him- or herself wondering what it means to be patriotic these days. Are you unpatriotic if you question the war in Iraq and our conduct in the war against terror? Are you unpatriotic if you don’t? Is it wrong to wonder aloud whether the steps being taken to protect us are actually isolating us and putting us in the way of greater harm? Is the loss of some privacy an acceptable price to pay for winning the war on terror? Or is that loss of privacy a greater defeat in the long run?
We’re certainly not the first citizens to feel so conflicted. And there have been far more unsettling times than this for Americans. It’s the rare citizen of the world who has the luxury to mull such lofty questions.
I suppose that even the cacophony of the current political debate is healthy for the long term. Democracy ain’t always pretty. But we do it better than anyone else.
Take some pride and comfort in that this weekend.
Bye for now.
