Internet Mom

Farhad Manjoo’s novel, True Enough, makes one truly step back a question the world we are living in today.  As he discusses controversial topics that make up the public sphere, like politics, news stories, and the media, Manjoo analyzes the “behind the scenes” to question the truth, or what people believe to be the truth.

The most interesting aspect I found in True Enough was the story on technology columnist Robin Raskin, aka “Technology Mom.”  As a mother of three she describes that it is her “mission to steer parents away from trouble… and when she saw that the iPod might pose a menace to children, she was determined to sound the alarm” (184.)  With the release of the new iPod that is able to display video Raskin warned that this would endorse children watching and being exposed to porn because of the many possibilities that lurk on the Internet.  Manjoo describes how Raskin’s “warning” to parents caught the media’s attention and she soon found herself on television.  What is most interesting to me in this section is how the media was able to manipulate Raskin’s story for their personal benefit.  Described as “a pert middle-aged woman with short brown hair and a deep, authoritative voice” (184) companies such as Panasonic, Mamco, and Techno Source, took advantage of her good saleswomen qualities and wasted no time doing so.  Manjoo explains that Raskin’s true purpose for going on television was not solely to warn parents of the dangers of the iPod but rather to be a saleswoman for the companies mentioned above: “She’d approached the news stations with the iPorn story only as a way to hook them into running her demonstrations of sponsored products” (185).

The most shocking part about this was not that the news stations which, she appeared on knew about her sales motives but the people watching in the audience at home had no idea that she was being paid to endorse certain products.  In 2006 Raskin spoke at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas where the audiences to whom she was speaking to did not know that she was acting as a saleswoman but instead, “was presented as if se were a reporter covering the convention” (187).  Though it is probably a very effective advertising tactic the fact that she was presented in one way when her actions were for a completely different cause seems somewhat wrong to me.  According to Manjoo it seems as though her initial intentions of warning parents about “iPorn” were good, they quickly distanced themselves from her actual actions.  Raskin fully admits to her actions it still does not change the fact that people listening to her speak were in the dark about her actual intentions.  She continues by explaining how “she didn’t fully consider how the job would affect her journalistic credibility” (188) which I find to be completely fair.  If she is presented and identifies as a journalist she should act as one, not as a saleswoman.

This particular story shows the power that tech companies have over the general public that we are not fully aware of.  It also shows their true intentions and how with money, they are pretty much able to get what they want when they want at the dispense of other people.