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Gruber quotes Upton Sinclair: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." A beautiful quip.

Gruber quotes Upton Sinclair: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." A beautiful quip. This really hits to the heart of old media's problems; there are so many jobs in so many media giants devoted to advertising, distribution, and management that have suddenly become somewhat unnecessary and even counterproductive when operations are moved online. But good luck finding a man among them who advocates giving himself a pink slip.

zach 17y ago
The opening of a frontier means that the adventurous idealists go there first. Once the possibilities are clear, those who seek fortune over adventure follow suit. And after the tide has turned, only the most emotionally attached, deeply-rooted or unable to adapt remain in the old places. In any case, those left to turn off the lights are unlikely to be the most reasonable.
tezza 17y ago
> "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." I think this is both wrong and incorrectly applied to Newspapers in this case. I would say rather :: "It is difficult to get a man to understand his salary may go away if the industry changes while he is still earning money the old way." That's not too Luddite now is it?? I mean people faced with working their existing jobs and seeing innovation taking place are going to take a suck-it-and-see approach. . With the credit boom of the past decade swelling advertising revenues, the erosion of income has been overlooked. Newspapers regarded internet as a loss-leader, helped by the small number of people using the Internet. Now there is a bust, and the Internet is a force, the Newspapers are looking for every avenue to earn money (fair play). . That is very far from the simplistic, incorrect view that people ignore a problem because they earn money that way.

zach 17y ago

The opening of a frontier means that the adventurous idealists go there first. Once the possibilities are clear, those who seek fortune over adventure follow suit. And after the tide has turned, only the most emotionally attached, deeply-rooted or unable to adapt remain in the old places. In any case, those left to turn off the lights are unlikely to be the most reasonable.

tezza 17y ago

> "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." I think this is both wrong and incorrectly applied to Newspapers in this case. I would say rather :: "It is difficult to get a man to understand his salary may go away if the industry changes while he is still earning money the old way." That's not too Luddite now is it?? I mean people faced with working their existing jobs and seeing innovation taking place are going to take a suck-it-and-see approach. . With the credit boom of the past decade swelling advertising revenues, the erosion of income has been overlooked. Newspapers regarded internet as a loss-leader, helped by the small number of people using the Internet. Now there is a bust, and the Internet is a force, the Newspapers are looking for every avenue to earn money (fair play). . That is very far from the simplistic, incorrect view that people ignore a problem because they earn money that way.