Jim Geraghty at National Review reports that Austin's famous annual South by Southwest Conference, a several week long "music, film, and interactive festival" has selected as the keynote speaker for this year none other than Chelsea Clinton:
Guess Who’s Giving the Keynote Address at SXSW This Year?
“South by Southwest” – usually referred to by the initials SXSW – is a group of technology, film and music festivals and conferences held each spring in Austin, Texas. Each year it hosts an extremely diverse range of panels, speakers and performances, but the keynote address or interview usually features a key figure in the tech community.
Last year it was SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, co-creator of PayPal, founder of Tesla motor sports, and the inspiration for Robert Downey’s portrayal of Iron Man.
In 2012, it was legendary rock star Bruce Springsteen. In 2011, Seth Priebatsch, founder and CEO of the mobile-gaming platform SCVNGR. In 2010, interview of the CEO of Twitter, Evan Williams. In 2008, the keynote was an interview of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
One of this year’s keynote speakers is… Chelsea Clinton.Read the rest here. Geraghty rightfully points out that it's their conference, and they can invite any speaker they like, but this selection really illustrates the "most annoying aspects of our era of celebrity politics."
I mean, it's not like the world is suffering from a lack of political speeches and conferences, now, is it? Do we really need the children of famous politicians to come pontificate at tech conferences about...well, apparently Chelsea is going to talk about the Clinton Foundation's health programs. Alrighty then. Why don't they just shut down SXSW for an hour and let Hillary have a campaign rally?
What a downgrade from Elon Musk. It might even be a downgrade from Grumpy Cat, who also made an appearance at last year's SXSW.
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| Photo: CNN |
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Wait, is this the same Chelsea Clinton who campaigned for her mom but wouldn't do interviews? That Chelsea Clinton? Oh, and it means SXSW has jumped the shark.
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