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The Brian Lehrer Show

Wednesday, June 06, 2007
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    Why the Internet is Bad for Us

    It seems like everyone loves the internet, but one former technology entrepreneur thinks it’s destructive. Self-described web contrarian Andrew Keen rails against blogs, wikis and web 2.0 in his new book, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing our Culture. We ask him why. Also, excerpts and analysis from the latest Republican presidential debate and a Harvard economist explains how New York businesses survive.

    Watch Brian's Web Video Picks.

Republican Debate

John Fund, columnist at the Wall Street Journal and author, Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy (Encounter, 2004), analyzes the third Republican presidential debate, then Dan Coats, former senator from Indiana and surrogate for the McCain presidential campaign, Congressman Buck McKeon (R-CA), representing Mitt Romney, and former Congresswoman Susan Molinari (R-SI), a senior advisor to the Giuliani campaign, assess their candidates' performances. Finally, Republican listeners tell us which candidate they are leaning towards.

Listen to the debate.

Rep. McKeon's website

Why the Internet is Bad for Us

Andrew Keen, former Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author of the new book The Cult of the Amateur: How today's Internet is killing our culture (Currency, 2007), says blogs, wikis and other web 2.0 phenomena do more harm than good.

The Cult of the Amateur is available for purchase at Amazon.com.

Andrew Keen's blog
Keen's essay in The Weekly Standard

How Businesses Make it in New York

Harvard economist Edward Glaeser and writer Arianne Cohen analyzed how diners, drug dealers, copy shops, and other businesses manage to survive and thrive in NYC in their article "The Profit Calculator" in this week's New York Magazine. They discuss how "Newyorkonomics" makes it possible.

Uncommon Indicators

The Brian Lehrer Show

The Brian Lehrer Show wants to hear how the economy is affecting the little things in your daily life. Share your stories and photos of the downturn.

Just Launched! The Uncommon Economic Indicators Video Contest. All the details here!

The Rocky Road Ahead

The Brian Lehrer Show

Ray Young, the chief financial officer of General Motors, talks about GM’s bankruptcy.

Then, Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, and Greg Williams, former owner of the recently closed Huntington Chevrolet in Huntington Station, NY., discusses the effect GM’s bankruptcy has had on dealerships and their employees.

Tweet If You Use Twitter

The Brian Lehrer Show

Farhad Manjoo, Slate's technology columnist and the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society talks about what Twitter means and how different groups use it.

What's your take on Twitter? How do you use it? Comment below!

Don't Say That, Literally

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John Flansburgh of the band They Might Be Giants discusses the running list the band keeps of "things we can no longer say." (a few examples: "my bad" "don't go there" "one hundred and ten percent" and "voted off the island")

What would be on your list of banned words or phrases? Comment below!

From Denmark with Love

The Brian Lehrer Show

Jesper Grunwald, senior managing editor with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, talks about the Danish economy, biking to work, and why the Danes are allegedly the happiest people in the world.

Squatting, Then and Now

The Brian Lehrer Show

As former squats in the East Village make the transition to coops, making homes from abandoned housing is again an issue. Andrew Reicher executive director of Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, Frank Morales an Episcopal priest involved in East Village/Lower East Side squatting and homelessness activism since the late '70s, and Rob Robinson, a leader of the Housing Campaign of Picture the Homeless, discuss the return of squatting.

Video Picks

The Brian Lehrer Show

Check out some recent video clips of interviews with guests and Brian Lehrer's weekly Web video picks.