"We Are All Actors" already tried to inject social networks into the political process with big Valley names like Brad Fitzpatrick, Jay Adelson, and Jimmy Wales — with predictably pathetic results. At least that effort focused on one campaign issue, budget reform, and Fitzpatrick's bar tab alone probably exceeded the mere $170 Goffman has raised from his supporters.

Does Goffman seriously believe a political movement based on a software development methodology that can't garner 5 percent of the operating system market can be a more viable force than the other "sad and hopeless alterna-candidates"? Or is he merely trying to generate some attention for his new social network Mondo Globo which promotes his other Web content at 10 Zen Monkeys, the RU Sirius show, Neofiles, and other locations? Gratuitous self-promotion disguised as activism is a cynical enterprise we could embrace, if Goffman's execution of it weren't as sad and hopeless as his political ambitions. (Photo by Mark Ismay)