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Jason’s long goodbye: Give me a break
I know that the goodbye post written by Mahalo supremo Jason Calacanis for his blog is supposedly heartfelt, and full of what he no doubt believes (or hopes we will believe) is authentic human emotion, but it still feels all wrong. Is it the fact that it reads like a bad script? Perhaps. And the fact that the photo Jason uses is from Michael Jordan’s retirement press conference (his second, I have to note) probably doesn’t help. Or maybe it’s the fact that in the script, Jason’s PR rep says that the great man is “fighting back his emotions” and asks the (theoretically) attended throng to “respect the privacy” of his bulldogs.
Or maybe it’s the idea that Jason — a man who uses Twitter, and his blog, and every other social-media tool he can think of, to relentlessly pump Mahalo — is giving up blogging because he craves something more “acoustic and authentic.” That part stretches believability to the breaking point. If anything, an email newsletter is a step backwards into megaphone and pulpit land; which makes sense, I suppose, since I have a hunch Jason much prefers the one-way pulpit to the two-way blogosphere. And when Jason promoted his new email list on FriendFeed, he said it was an “insider” list and was for: “insiders only, please — no casual folks.” Seriously, who talks like that? Not even Jason could be so totally without even a stitch of self-awareness.
But the real giveaway is comments like this one, made on FriendFeed about his departure, in which he says that “Your dignified questions and responses are appreciated during this very emotional time for me.” That’s just too much — even for someone like Jason. That hasn’t stopped some people from taking his comments about blogging very seriously, including some who usually know better, but I am calling BS on this one. I refuse to believe it — and if it is true, I refuse to care :-)
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Would Michael Jordan declare basketball dead after he retired?
Shaq and Kobe would certainly disagree.
Moreover: I understand Jason's complaints about the blogosphere needing to mature, but leaving won't help. In fact, it's stupid. I think he contributed to what he was complaining about (worrying about hype instead of content ala I'll give you a macbook air if you follow me on twitter).
The solution: Worry about content!!!
I guess what I'm trying to say is - he should "be the change" - not "be the guy running away."
I do want to see the blogosphere mature, that's part of why I'm working on spot.us - but blogging aint going anywhere.
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Since he's mostly been blogging Mahalo links lately, I'm inclined to think the self-imposed mailing list/blogger outage is really a way to black himself out before he moves to the next level. He's been at Mahalo for how long? People like Jason don't ever stay in one place very long. If Mahalo is stable and growing, he may be fixing to move on to the next project.
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As should everyone :-)
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Why not just walk away without saying a single word? Oh, I know, he needs some form of self-fulfillment and gratification so he's assured his decision was the right one.
Bleh. Lame.
Do you already h