Al Gore had just five words to say at the Webby Awards held in New York this week: "Please don't recount this vote."
The quip won laughs, even if he was simply following the rules: The Webby's only permits winners five words in their acceptance speeches.
The Webby Awards has been attempting an evolution of relevance out of the dot-com period in which it was born and this year featured celebrity names outside of the Internet -- but that's not the point. The Webby's are still a geek's paradise, and so it was most fitting that Al Gore, whom everyone knows once implied that he created the Internet, was on hand to make jokes everyone could find funny.
Otherwise, Al Gore has become increasingly unfunny. Again. Like the Webby's, he is similarly stuck in the past, the punchline of jokes about hanging chads and Florida retirees.
Unlike other failed presidential hopefuls, Gore has not been able to move past his past. As you look around at other incidents, like major corporations hitting some nasty snags, it seems a lot of entities are having trouble getting past their pasts. Is this the end of good old American reinvention and change?
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, change agents, Al Gore, Science and Technology, Technology, Internet, Florida |
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Recent Comments | 7 Total
June 9, 2005 at 8:43am by Roger Fulton
trying to re-inven Gore, will be like trying to get Pat Boone elected President. Strangely enough he is nothing like his personal presence.
I met him once when I worked in the hotel business in Denver. He is friendly affable, warms to the ladies and is easy to get along with..the hotel staff played a joke on him and he seemed to like it.
June 9, 2005 at 10:16am by Tony May / Mayday Media
Nope. It's just that there are way to many people in decision-making capacities that don't know how to re-invent - or they're afraid that if they let someone spearhead that type of project that their job would then be in jeopardy.
I would find it a very fun, interesting task being responsible for re-branding Mr. Gore.
June 9, 2005 at 10:24am by Laura's English Teacher
Laura needs to learn to properly use the possesive and plural rules of language before she posts again.
June 9, 2005 at 11:40am by jim wilde
from a recent post... Since ideas are everywhere, both inside and outside of your organization, there is an immediate, urgent need for new tools that can harness ideas, concepts, information on the group level. Markets are getting more and more ephemeral, and you need to get the information you need in the right place at the right time to be able to make fast decisions and grab your 15 minutes of fame before your opportunity is lost. Having an environment where employees can easily find and connect ideas at the right time is essential for staying on top of this increasingly volatile marketplace. To get another shot at fame requires re-invention and innovation.
June 9, 2005 at 12:40pm by Thud
Al Gore never claimed he invented the Internet.
June 9, 2005 at 1:21pm by David Locke
We are frozen in fear. And, we have engaged in a war between the professional class (new money) and the managerial class (old money). When old money wins, we will no longer recognize America, but it won't be re-invention. It will be the recycling of an old that we never were.
Do not expect re-invention or innovation. Niether the tax code, nor the FASB supports re-invention or innovation.
As for the fear, there is no reason for it, other than it enabling rule and ruler. Flush the fear.
June 11, 2005 at 12:25pm by Alice Marshall
If it were not for Al Gore we would still be in the walled off gardens of Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy, etc.
There is a lot more to the Internet than technology. Someone has to insist on open standards. Were it not for Al Gore there would be no Web, for the technology by itself means nothing, and there would be no blogosphere.