Cialis line | Cheapest Medicines online.

Something interesting and a little bit amazing happened tonight. Around noon on Saturday, Jeralyn at Talk Left posted a plea for help (short version: her computer was dying, and she needed a new one to continue blogging from the road). Among others, Atrios linked to her request around 8 pm. Between then and the time I’m writing this, someone has purchased a new computer for Jeralyn off of her Amazon wishlist. A $2,400 computer.

Now, I’m not somebody who buys into the technologically rah-rah, “everything’s different now that we have the internet!” sort of rhetoric, but it does seem to me that something worth noting has been happening – in short, a resurrection of the old patronage model, but on a grand and distributed scale. This isn’t anything new, of course – when I buy a CD from a musician whom I’ve just heard play at a local bar, I feel like I’m not just buying a commodified good, but rather that I’m helping to support his or her ability to make music. Now, it seems like some people are starting to use the internet to expand the reach of the metaphorical hat they leave out on the street, even as you get the sense that they’d be doing what they’re doing regardless of whether or what you toss in it, just like that musician at the local bar.

In a way, the crucial difference here is between buying and tipping. In the first case, you’re paying for a good or service, and feel no attachment toward the person producing it. In the latter case, you find yourself caring about the person you’re tipping, empathizing with them and appreciating them, not merely what they produce. You’re giving them money not in exchange for something, but simply to enable them to keep doing what they’re doing, because it pleases you and you feel it makes your life richer.

One might say that Howard Dean’s mammothly successful online fundraising campaign taps into this sort of ethic. It’s arguable that he’s been so successful not just because people are voting with their money, but because donors very explicitly see him as performing a valuable service, speaking for them and their views (or even just offering a contrary voice). They don’t just pay him, they identify and empathize with him, and they give money not in exchange for his services, but to enable him to continue doing what he does.

The interesting thing is that in a world where major corporations are trying to figure out how to force their users to pay for downloaded music, the patronage model seems to be taking hold in the world of words and ideas, inspiring people to willingly and happily click the “Donate” button and leave a tip, whether a few bucks or a new Sony computer.

Comments One Comment so far. Leave a comment below.

talkleft,

September 21, 2003 at 3:16 am

Epistemographer, I’m as flabbergasted as everyone else. In less than ten hours, someone heard my plea and acted upon it. As you pointed out, this was not a small ticket item. Yet, I really need one and can’t afford to buy one right now. Someone–my hero, for sure–came through, and I am filled with all sorts of thoughts and questions–and as I said on Talkleft, with awe for his or her generosity.

Add Your Comments

Name

Required

Website

Comment

Tips

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <ol> <ul> <li> <strong>

Your email is never published nor shared.

Ready?