Does this explain why Holland.com wants me to go to Amsterdam?

Am I to believe my all-expenses paid mini-vacation in the Amsterdam is a horrible conspiracy to have the Prime Minister of Holland rub all over me and 23 of my new bestest friends so he can steal our collective sexy birthday mojo?

[via And the least popular party guest is... - Yahoo! News]:

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Branded a petty bourgeois by neighboring Belgium, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende appears to be equally disliked by his own citizens who voted him the most unpopular birthday party guest.

Asked "which Dutch celebrity would you absolutely not want to see at your birthday party?," 12 percent -- the highest proportion of those polled said: Jan Peter Balkenende.

This makes sense. I mean, why would anybody care to invite a loser sellout like me anyhow? Why would organizations like Personal Democracy Forum, LINC Project, South by Southwest, Cable Television Public Affairs Association, NYC Grassroots Media Conference, New American Media, the Association of Asian American Journalists, The Media Center, BlogHer, NARAL, People for the American Way, New Democratic Majority, NYC Democracy for America or any other organizations, journalists and documentarians be interested in anything I have to say about anything I do?

Oh. Wait. I see. I am now on the same league as Jack Abramoff, Armstrong Williams and Doug Bandow? What kind of a moron would equate my going to Amsterdam to maybe smoke some hashish, check out the Anne Frank Museum (which I did not 20 years ago, when I first went to Amsterdam), interview health care officials in the Red Light district and maybe have a couple of beers with my favorite Cuban, Perez Hilton to, and I quote, "curry government favor" by "accepting pampering by people with an agenda".

What.

The.

Fuck.

MediaGirl chimes in with the blogroll conspiracist :

[via So where do blog junkets fall in this K Street world? | media girl (mediagirl.org)]:

I don't know. I find it hard to disagree. How would I feel about, say, David Brooks if he -- no, scratch that, I don't hold him in high regard anyway, he's such a lightweight -- I don't know how I would feel about, say, Molly Ivins if it came out that she was getting junketed by some business interest. Does the junket mean the writer will pander? Or praise? Or simply avoid criticism?

Ah geez, MG. Molly Ivins, like many other high profile journalists get junketed all the fucking time. It's called professional speaking engagements. These gigs are not just about the money. They are about your due diligence in promoting yourself and expanding your professional networks. You really need to get out there more.

When I got the email about this event I was stunned because I, contrary to what we discovered at BlogHer, spend an inordinate amount of time promoting my blogs and myself. At last year's conference it was revealed that many of the tech and political conference are bereft of women speakers because we, as opposed to most men, then not to ask for these kinds of opportunities. Women tend to do the passive aggressive shit of waiting for things to come to them and then whining about it when they don't.

This offer was different because it literally fell onto my lap. Major kudos to Justin at BlogAds for that.

Here's the deal though. Remember Peter Daou's essays about triangulation? Well, this is a perfect example of triangulation between media, bloggers and an organization, in this case Holland.com. Which is why triangulation cannot and will not support networks.

Triangulation can only happen with a handful of bloggers at a time due to simple mathematics. There are so many people that an organization can tap through an ad or promotional campaign. That's why Air America Radio only has a handful of bloggers on their shows. They are not interested in opening their airwaves to all the liberal bloggers out there. What they want is to capitalize on the largest amount of new listeners they can get with the smallest commitment to resources they can make. So they give these "top" bloggers the cachet of being on the radio while expanding their own market at almost no cost to them.

Triangulation is fantastic for the promotion of individuals. Triangulation sucks and fails at growing a network.

The moral of this story, along with Amanda's "have your passpost always at the ready", is to seriously think what you want to get out of this. In my case, I get invited to most events not just for my political blogging but for my understanding of the technology of blogs and how the internet works. That's why for me the opportunities are not just in what I write. It's also in what I build with this technology.

I am not waiting for a book deal like some bloggers, so that I can cut and bail. And if I had just wanted to make quick, mad money, I would have gone into the porno business. I have friends who made serious money out of porno sites. I even proposed to Mr. Man that we put up a porno site 10 years ago. Fortunately (or un-, you pick) the man has a conscience and so the idea was dropped. Making $100k+ a year selling images of pussy or dick is real, and I mean, real tempting.

I don't want to cut and bail. I truly believe that one can work for the greater good and still get paid. So what I see for myself is not a book about my best blog posts. What I see for myself is a new media company that can support my editors, my contributors and definitely me.

Bootstrapping a future progressive new media business is not easy at all. Doing it the way I am is worst than a c-section and labor pains combined. And I went through those two myself, so I should know.

So now, just to piss people off, I am going to pimp my Amsterdam ride.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Bitch is gonna get her groove going, since last time she went on a vacation by herself was ... hmmmm ... 12 years ago? And with the family? We have not had any real time off since ... wow ... my oldest was a year old. My little one who is turning 6 this year has never relaxed with his momma on a beach doing nuttin'.

I gotta find someone who'll pimp us that ride.

Word.

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