Ivan Davydov. Interpol, issue thirty-six. Sad ending

Interpol, issue thirty-six. Sad ending
Ivan Davydov

Publication date: January 12, 2001

Question

Here you go. They died down. Wrapping himself in a chilly coat, the president congratulated his people on the New Year, the century, etc. and promised, as all presidents promise, to lead the above-mentioned people out of the desert in the next forty years, even obtaining water, if necessary, by striking a rock with his staff. Clubs on the bridge. And so on. And the anthem sounded , and people poured into the streets, and walking along the streets - this is an eyewitness account - he felt like a soldier on the front line, so many things around were burning and exploding (I mean, let me explain, firecrackers, not gas pipelines in houses).

Then there was what always happens next, the search for aspirin and questions like “Who am I?”, “Where am I?” and “How should we arrange it?”

The questions are, of course, important.

But not one worth seriously thinking about. At least the first two answers are easy to get at the nearest police station. And the third one, before you start answering it, it’s worth transforming. Not to say, simplify.

In a simplified form, this question was once, according to classical Russian literature, asked to himself by a former general and in Russian transcription it sounded something like this: “Ke fer? Fer-to ke?”

Answer options

The question also relates to media and political Internet affairs. The prospects that seemed rosy suddenly no longer seemed so. A beautiful lady without pity, but with a braid (in this case the author is hinting not at the shape of the hairstyle, but at the item of gardening equipment) looms behind the backs of popular projects (a person who is able to imagine the back of a project certainly has a rich, albeit somewhat sick, imagination ). At the end of the year, it turned out that the audience was slightly, four times overestimated; however, even when revalued, it did not impress the minds of advertisers as a whole. And other categories of potentially solvent citizens also seem to be losing interest in the Internet media sector.

How can we not return to our general, a spontaneous, apparently admirer of Chernyshevsky?

The question, it turns out, is not idle.

And, as is customary, there are several possible answers.

The first answer is: nothing. As in his time and in a similar situation, the Greek king Demetrius, according to one poet, was strong in spirit, and according to one historian, vice versa. Colleagues from thriving publications (from RJ , for example) may think about the reasons for this somewhat panicky passage. Or declare that its author is simply mistaken. Ah, gentlemen, I’m afraid it’s not historians and poets, who in the distant future are unlikely to be interested in our mouse-running, but you yourself, we ourselves, in the next six months or a year, will have a chance to test his correctness in practice. And practice is the only criterion of truth, as is known from Wittgenstein and - to some - from Marx.

Answer two: without getting hung up on the sad statement about the absence of a market (what kind of market is there if the situation is turned upside down: at the moment there is a request from producers, but there is no response from consumers, otherwise how to explain that sad fact, that of those three and a half million who still surf the Internet, just over a percent wanders onto the website of the most popular publication per day?), this market is formed through our own efforts. To spread information, albeit extremely exaggerated, not only about successes, but, most importantly, about the necessity of our hopeless cause. It is, in fact, necessary, not so much for us, but for society - though, I suspect, not quite in the form in which this matter is being done now. There is a minus - there is no society either. Why is a long question; I’ll make do with an unfounded statement of the thesis, especially since, firstly, the thesis seems obvious to me, and secondly, I’m not the first to put it forward. And in the process of creating an Internet media market, it is difficult to imagine and not utopian, but what... (insert as necessary) is not joking, suddenly it will be possible to create a society too. And then this will be that rare case when it will be possible not only to increase the level of personal well-being, but also to bring real benefit, I beg your pardon, to your homeland. At least this path seems interesting. In general, it seems to me that throwing yourself head first into the pool is more interesting than timidly looking for a ford. It must be a national trait. Well, sorry.

There is also, gentlemen, a third option, but so far it is practiced mainly by comrades. Do what you want and don’t think about what will happen. In a word, if you want to publish a magazine on the Internet or a newspaper there, publish it. But don’t expect not only income, but even a kind word in your own guest book. However, a) why do comrades need income?; b) they sometimes do well . Unfortunately, as one of the largest theorists of the Russian Internet correctly noted (of course, he is the largest theorist, if only because he last saw the Internet at least six months ago): “Because it is clear that everything on the Russian network is somehow boring and , one might even say, without a hitch. Somehow everything is for money." The theorist is right. Money addiction is a disease and there is no cure. However, trying to be attentive and consistent, I cannot help but mention the third option.

I don't see the fourth one. If anyone comes up with an idea, let me know. Curious.

Sincere confession

All this was extensive self-promotion. The other day the author gave an interview to the newly opened publication "Dni.Ru" - a lengthy interview in which, however, he does not so much share vague views on the future as frolic, spreading anti-Kremlin rumors and remembering parables from the "Panchatantra", known to the general public in the adaptations of Ivan Krylov , fabulist.

Sad ending

And our general, by the way, shot himself, if you believe the book. Yes.