Jay Rosen tweeted minutes ago a link to yet another contrarian article quoting people out of thin air.  (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/07/facebook-twitter-revolutionaries-cyber-utopians )

This fits the classic example Rosen has been writing about how writers love to construct inane, false arguments to debunk. (Link to original tweet)

I find this particularly funny,  given that Morozov fails to so this in his own constructions he calls “Cyber-utopians”

Since the internet’s cheerleaders can’t bury cyber-realism any more than they can secede from history, they’ve had to design their own straw-man interpretation of the cyber-realist position, equating it with a view that the internet doesn’t matter. This is a caricature of the cyber-realist worldview that doesn’t really square with parts of my book that very explicitly state – here is just one quote – that "the internet is more important and disruptive than [its greatest advocates] have previously theorised".

This is just too much.  Can he really not see the irony of this?  He must not have a mirror nearby.  Defending Gladwell,  he quotes this:

internet can be an effective tool for political change when used by grassroots organizations

Then he calls on his “Cyber utopians” to produce evidence for something they don’t actually claim,  which is that there are cyber utopians that deny there are other means to organize revolutions.

cyber-utopians would need to establish that there was no coordination of these protests by networks of grassroots activists

Then Morozov launches into his observations of how activists in Tunisia and Egypt were meeting offline and in person in 2009.  Again,  there are NO cyber-utopians that I can find (and apparently Morozov can’t either,  at least ones he actually references other than as the straw men he constantly uses to bolster his own arguments.

Those who believe that these networks were purely virtual and spontaneous are ignorant of the recent history of cyber-activism in the Middle East

Once again,  who are these people?  I believe you have voices in your head, Morozov.  Who actually believes that these networks of activists were “purely virtual”?  Give me a break.  Give us ALL a break.

You got anybody in particular to quote?  If not,  you’re engaging in exactly what you accuse the cyber-utopians are doing re: Gladwell.  Straw men arguments.  Evidence:  No links.

There’s more.  I’ll post it soon.