wild child wisdom

"You've had too many mountains moved in your life.

You've never had to make mountains move shovel full by shovel full.

You have just always pushed...and they have moved.

You need to look at things in terms of the real world...not in the terms of how our lives have been"







Thursday, May 6, 2010

Heavy Lifting

In response to the NY Times article, a few webloggers and tweeters have started a small campaign to boycott Craigslist.  It is an understandable reaction to the outrage many people felt when they learned how traffickers are using Craigslist.  But I think rather than hurl insults and boycotting the site, we could start with a reasonable dialog as if we are friends.

At the bottom of this post you’ll find a link to an interview that Charlie Rose did with Craig Newmark.  Pretty much a love fest, you can tell right away that these two men have formed a mutual admiration society.

But the interview gives some very important insights into the actual Craig of Craigslist and what makes him tick.  Those of you who endeavor to convince him to make changes to the Craigslist Adult Services, might want to take notes.

The interview is a few years old, and there is chitchat about how Craigslist impacts media and fights spam.  You’ll hear plenty of insight into Craig’s passion for accountable politicians, journalistic fact checking, and public diplomacy.

Truly…It’s all good.

In fact, it is so cool, that one may almost overlook Craig’s pride in his luxury of a total lack of concern over “this profit margin thing”.

And that is where I want you all to pay attention. 
Craig doesn’t pay attention to how much money the company is making.

He is proud…if not gleeful to remind us that Craigslist does not owe anything or answer to investors or venture capitalists or advertisers.

In Craig’s own words:
”We get to dictate what we do based on our own values”

Which begs the question,
“Craig, what are your core values?”

And this is what he says:
“Treating people like we want to be treated.  That is our core value set. 
We listen, we get suggestions from people.  We try to act on them. 
And then we listen some more.”

At the end of the interview, Charlie Rose asks,
“What’s the most important way that you believe you’re making a difference?”

To which Craig responds:
“Hard to say. Maybe the company is in some sense just a good example of giving people a break. And again, treating people the way you want to be treated.”

So here I am, again.  Asking you Craig.
How does the role Craigslist plays to help and enable the trafficking of women and children sit with you?   How does it mesh with your core values?  

Can you just allow something that bears your name to be cited as “the biggest online hub for selling women against their will” ? 

And Craig, even If you are as you claim, not smart enough or energetic enough,  you still recognize that tendency you have to save the world.  Maybe we could channel that effort toward eradicating human trafficking on Craigslist? 

You say you want to help the people who are doing the heavy lifting.

Fighting the sale of children for sexual exploitation is about as heavy as it gets.

We need your help with the lifting on this one.




Charlie Rose: A conversation with Craigslist.com founder, Craig Newmark
19 July 2007

3 comments:

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

I have a blog friend whose camera equipment was stolen. About $1300.00 worth of camera and accessories.

The items were sold on Craig's List..it took Craig's list almost 6 months to give the police the IP address of the seller and by that time, of course, it was too late. The seller had changed his location, equipment gone.

So, I also ask Craig-me-boy...your core values include not cooperating to solve a crime of theft also?

Travis Cody said...

I know it's not the fault of the medium when bad stuff happens. I know that the perpetrators of the bad stuff are responsible. It's the perpetrators who take advantage of the medium.

But I have to agree with your basic point about getting some help from the folks who run the medium.

Mel said...

”We get to dictate what we do based on our own values”

We all get to dictate what we do, based on our own values--if we're aware of that power.
The victims of the trafficking--not so aware of the power. Someone has managed to convince them differently.

I don't believe that's the case for the folks in charge here. And I can't believe they're 'okay' with being taken for a ride along WITH the victims.

That leaves me with a bad impression of the folks in charge...especially given the bottom line of ”We get to dictate what we do based on our own values”.

What's up with that?
*sigh*