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Of late I have noticed that there is a lot of negativity in not just my posts, but on the Web in general. This is not something that is pleasing or even interesting to me, but somehow a good number of my interesting people, startups and the Web in general appear shadowed these days. Why is that, you may ask? Let me give an example if I may.

Out of course any blogger or news person deals with hundreds of contacts and loads of information every day. We all hope for and enjoy reporting on and talking to people doing uplifting and sometimes life changing things. However, as a percentage of our total “data diet”, although the numbers and kinds of negative news do not numerically outdo the positive variety, the negative kinds do carry a heavier weight sometimes. This is the long description of basically saying; “Some people just make me mad.” There is an old saying in the military; “It takes 250 attaboys to erase one oh crap!”. I always marveled at this saying, but now I fully understand it, and this is why crappy stuff people do seems more impact full sometimes.

Jason Calacanis and The Atta-Boy Syndrome

The subject of this “oh crap” moment is none other than Jason Calacanis. Not too long ago I was fairly critical of Calacanis over his apparent treatment of Jimmy Wales. Calacanis commented here and we exchanged emails wherein I offered in fairness to show his side more substantially. In the end he agreed to answer some questions and sort of set the record straight. At long last and after a few emails, Calacanis never showed. I kind of write this off as one of those “too busy” episodes in life, but it still bugs me. So, I expect it is time to go all negative again on Mr. Calacanis.

Before writing this I ambled over to Calacanis’ blog to see what he has been up to for context. To my surprise, he decided to retire! I guess, given his inattention to what he said he would do here, he must have retired from proper reciprocity too. I am a little ashamed to have been out of the loop to a degree on this one to be honest. I did take note of what Calacanis said in his “sort of” farewell address to the blogosphere however. He basically says that he is fed up and tired and tired and fed up etc. It is both indicative and interesting how he choose to phrase things in the address to the nation though. I must say I think I have an even clearer perception of the man after reading his last blog entry - he appears to be more of an egomaniac than I ever imagined. (Contrary to popular belief, Calacanis did not win a Pulitzer Prizer for blogging)

Jason Calacanis With Lady Byrd Johnson 1964

The Heart of the Blogosphere Is Heavy

I remember President Lyndon Johnson coining the phrase “with a heavy heart” back in the 60’s. Every time he came on TV to announce some catastrophe, Johnson would begin with; “My fellow Americans, it is with a heavy heart I come to you today.” Even back then it seemed corny and insincere especially when he held his beagle up by its ears. In Calacanis’ farewell address he delves even deeper into the “coined phrase” bag of tricks, and even to the most obtuse onlooker galvanizes his own sense of self importance. Calacanis actually evoked the famed Lou Gehrig phrase; “I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth”, which I could scarcely believe and I quote from Gehrig’s first paragraph:

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day?”

- and Calacanis’ evocation:

Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been linked to from so many blogs over the five years, and I have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

Madre De Dios! I know Jason cannot equate being linked to by a million blogs to even one of Gehrig’s athletic exploits. Okay, so he did not do what he said he would in my regard. Yes, it makes me mad, but honestly this is not about bashing Calacanis as much as it is about “proper etiquette”. Had he not agreed to answer the questions, or if he had simply mailed and said he did not have time - this would be another story. I honestly wanted to hear, everyone wants to hear what these people have to say.

Jason Hitting 4 Home - Uh, Writing 4 Blog Posts In One Day

We look to leaders to show us the way. Calacanis compares himself to Jimmy Wales in the last correspondence I had with him. This made me take pause and consider that possibly I might have been wrong in my assessment of him and his dealings. So, in this case not following through further amplified a perception - not just by me either. I expect Calacanis has fallen victim to his own comments on many other occasions. So why is it that Allen Stern of Centerworks and Saul Hansell of the New York Times clambered to ask Calacanis questions (in front of Calacanis’ PR I might add) at this auspicious occasion? Maybe they just wanted to feed an insatiable ego? Perhaps the guy is just that important and I am the only one who does not know it? Heck, when asked if he would return to blogging I half expected Calacanis to equate himself to Douglas MacArthur returning to the Philippines in WWII.

Web Blinders

Okay, I hope I am not being unfair. I was interested to see what Calacanis was referring to when he said he was looking for a new outlet, one more intimate and portable etc. It did not take long to find his latest “Jason streaming” episode on Twitter via my Google search. Apparently Calacanis has decided to become overlord of the ultimate “me” network Twitter. Interestingly I think I may have also discovered the “not so hidden” reasoning behind him using Gehrig quotes too - Calacanis appears to be a baseball fan. So, my question is this; “If some of these people want to equate themselves to heroes, then why don’t they act like them?” Perhaps Gehrig left questions unanswered too?

I picked a big target for this article obviously. The reasoning is that we have to expect and demand more from the people out in front. We have all fallen short in this regard far too often. Look at the Presidential candidates of late, the people we cheer in athletics (being criminal and etc.) and leaders in every venue you can think of. This “out to lunch” aspect of leadership is not simply characterized by Jason Calacanis, but rather by generations of narcissistic “wonder boys” who, once they have a ticket in the game, act characteristically mediocre.

Calacanis Retires To Twitter

We all make mistakes and miss opportunities sure (me more predominantly than many), but when called to act on an oversight we respond. However, most are not so fortunate as to have the sun shine on them so fortuitously. Just so everyone knows, Jimmy Wales may take two weeks to answer an email, but he never fails to answer. The Web may be full of “haters” as Calacanis puts it, but I for one do not hate him at all. I just think he ought to be held to a higher standard, and he should use his own lines.