Why I read Dave Winer's posts

In a little while, I'll have finished writing a post which refers to the issue of *not* knowing why people read your work making it that much harder to continue satisfying them. Maybe that's a good thing, in the sense that by *not* playing to the audience, you remain true to yourself; maybe it's a bad thing, because you run the risk of losing your audience and thus lose the chance to put your thoughts in front of those who may benefit most from them. I don't have an answer to that conundrum; I suspect there *is* no single right answer. Either way, I've just read two posts that appeared in quick succession on Dave Winer's "Scripting News" blog that confirm why I read his writing; which is that here is a guy who tells it from the heart, as he sees it, and truly doesn't give a f*** if others have a hard time with that aspect of himself. Which is a trait I admire, and also try to live by.

Anyway, the first post shows someone *not* leaping on an inevitable topical bandwagon:

Listening to the endless radio "coverage" of the Pope's death, it's remarkable how unbalanced it is. They have priests, saying we all know deep inside the Pope was right about everything. Hello. Earth to Catholics. The Pope was a good PR guy, but come on, he was against birth control. The Catholics actually burned condoms in AIDS-plagued Africa. Now would be a great opportunity for some of the real reporting the pros are so famous for. Instead they're running an endless infomercial for the Catholic Church. Hey the Catholics are the church of sin and hell, fire and brimstone. If ever there were an opportunity to be balanced this is it. No more footsie? Heh, yeah sure.

[Via Scripting News]

Now, I could take personal exception to the attitudes expressed by the Pope (and many in organised religions) about people like myself; but hey, they're just as entitled to their opinions as I am. The example Dave cites, though, gives a telling and concrete instance where one group's dogma needlessly costs lives. No matter how admirable the Pope's qualities as a person, it doesn't compensate for lives unnecessarily lost. In my opinion.

In the other post, he reinforces another long-held opinion of mine, i.e. that a good measure of a person's contribution to a debate is less about the friends he keeps, and more about the enemies he makes:

Scoble is a man of respect. "My co-author Shel Israel gave me heck for being too nice to my fellow bloggers." Right on. Too much footsie in the blogosphere. Enough. Just the facts please. Enough telling me about your friends. Make some new enemies for a change.

[Via Scripting News]

I think the public difference of opinions between himself and Adam Curry over the future of podcasting, or his issues with the EFF and Cory Doctorow on the issues of copyright raised by pervasive linking technologies such as Google's also attests to his willingness to stand up for what he believes in. Bottom line; while I may not always agree with what he *says*, I know that what he says is what he believes. Really, I don't ask for more than that from a commentator.

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