Radical advertising and atomization

A bit of a random thought, but (radical) classified advertising is sort of cool. I'm thinking of '60s-'70s papers like the Berkeley Barb, East Village Other and other similar magazines where radicals could advertise random stuff/services and connect with others (e.g. find roommates, start a group, etc.). See for example the diverse and unfiltered, albeit not always wholesome or something I would agree with, range of listings in this issue of the Barb. I don't think we really have the same sort of community-based radical advertising today as there was back then, especially not in any left-wing periodicals (unless someone's familiar with a popular left-wing magazine that still carries such listings?). I think this sort of advertising has largely been replaced by online services like Craigslist and Facebook, which are still nice (if one avoids scams and stays safe) but obviously not solely geared to a left-wing audience. I think people have also just become generally more atomized than they were back then, which is somewhat understandable considering the uniqueness of the '60s-'70s counter-culture. People literally just hitchhiked across the country and met up with random people back then, which became less common over time as (from what I understand) concerns about safety increased and the counter-cultural ethos sort of faded.

Bumping in case anyone wants…

Bumping in case anyone wants to jump in/tell me I don't know what I'm talking about...

For what it's worth (and I…

For what it's worth (and I don't believe it's worth much), check out how the CEO of Craigslist describes himself (or allows others to describe him):

Possibly the only CEO ever described by the business press as anti-establishment, a communist, and a socialistic anarchist, since 2000 Jim has led craigslist to be the most used classifieds in any medium, and one of the world's most popular websites, while maintaining its public service mission, non-corporate vibe, [and] staff of less than 50.

He also lists Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent as one of his favorite "business reads."[1] The site itself also has the peace sign as its logo. I could be wrong, but I'm definitely getting yuppie, Jerry-Rubin-type vibes...:

Hoffman said: He [Rubin] said he’s proud of what he did in the ‘60s, but if you redo it you will say that he’s eaten every single page alive. He’s a born-again capitalist, entrepreneurs are his new heroes, and just like Ronald Reagan he goes around to campuses and tells the Horatio Alger rags-to-riches stories. Last year it was Apple Computer—two hippies tinkering with a toy in their garage made millions of dollars, all new consciousness. The Apple went a little rotten and now it’s Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream or Rachel’s Cookies or the new Pet Rock—everyone strikes it good. He said 800,000 businesses were started last year; statistics show three quarters of those are gonna go bankrupt, but that doesn't matter. This is an Amway convention you are listening to. [loud applause] This is a lottery ad. Everyone comes up roses. This is the New York Magazine you are reading. This is USA Today—it's all rosy, it's cheery, it's upbeat, in color, la-di-da, quite modern. This is all a very interesting rosy picture, but this is not reality.

Apple's Jobs also embraced the whole '60s-'70s anti-establishment thing while completely discarding the anti-capitalist and socialist aspects of that era. Gotta love "anti-establishment millionaire CEOs." Though to be fair it doesn't seem like the Craigslist CEO is the worst CEO around, which is not exactly high praise.

1. See here (original article also here):

Buckmaster wrote:

This is a very insightful book about what mass media are, what you can expect from them and what you can't. Craigslist is a very decentralized site in terms of the authority that it exercises, which is kind of the opposite of the way traditional media operate. We want craigslist to be a medium for the masses in every sense of the world, one that's not dominated by a central authority figure. We're distrustful of corporate power and the corporate way of doing things. The last thing we'd want to do is run our site or our company that way.