Well it’s time to review the latest Patrick Scoble; featuring Microsoft Boy podcast. I was getting worried that the team of Scoble & Scoble were giving up on podcasting because it took so long for this installment to appear. A regular schedule would be nice, boys. You have loyal listeners, ya know. Do you think Dawn & Drew would be where they are today if they kept their fans waiting like this??
So Patrick thinks his pal Drew is lame. Actually he really thinks his pal Drew is just a little kid and it is Drew’s parents that are lame. Makes sense to me, from the viewpoint of an 11 year old son of Microsoft Boy. Heck, it makes sense to me, from the viewpoint of a mom with 6 ½ kids. Honesty is a good thing Patrick; I just hope Drew and his family recognize that when folks start telling them that they were immortalized by your podcast. Or maybe I don’t. Maybe I hope that Drew and his family are a little miffed by your podcast and tell you about it. Because while I think it’s perfectly acceptable to tell your dad that those folks are lame, and even for dad to giggle (again a thing I could have lived my life without hearing) and agree, I don’t really think it was a really great idea for a podcast.
Scoble took some hits on his blog for encouraging his son to label his friend and their parents lame and for encouraging Patrick to count off his games and his wonderful “toys” while comparing them to those of his friends. I am sure that Scoble did try to impart some wisdom to his son about folks actually earning their toys and that he did try to explain that not everyone can or should have the best, new gizmo (or all of the best new gizmos). We just didn’t hear it, I’m giving Scoble the benefit of the doubt; surely he tried.
Unfortunately, I think that if he did try, he probably didn’t get anywhere. It’s difficult for parents like Scoble to impart such lessons to their children nowadays. Parents who live a relatively “privileged” life pass that along to their children and it’s virtually impossible for children to comprehend the differences between the classes. I know this from personal experience.
As mentioned, I have 6 ½ children. 3 ½ of those those children would immediately realize that while Drew is lame (and so are his parents) he isn’t all that different from them. They actually have to wait for new toys and they understand that their moms aren’t made of money and Xbox games don’t grow on trees. The other 3 children are clueless. So clueless that one of them has decided her father and his family are “poor” because it cost so much money for them to take a trip to Japan over spring break. Those 3 have no concept of poor and it isn’t the age factor that is causing the confusion, it’s the class they spend half of their time living in.
I wish Scoble luck in trying to impart some lessons regarding class structure in America, it won’t be easy and I do hope he’s starting now – maybe making Patrick earn a bit of money toward a 360 would be a good start…
And Scoble, if you need help coming up with topics for your podcasts with Patrick, there are all sorts of interesting question libraries that will help. You did a better job of not asking about summer vacation but it did slip out when you ran out of topics. Or you could ask him what he thinks of Bush’s nominee for Supreme Court? Or maybe you could ask him about drug use in his school? You could even ask him more about the bass guitar? How about MTV, does he watch it? Have favorite shows? Vjays? The topics are endless – try some of them!