Anyone With an X is a Y

Have you noticed a strange trend: Some technoenthusiasts have begun to tell us, "Anybody with an Internet connection is now a publisher", "Anyone with a keyboard is an author", "Anybody with a computer is a producer", "Anybody with a digital camera and a laptop is a reporter", and "Anybody with Photoshop is an artist". I'm sure you recognize the slogan.

What's all that about?

We never said, "Anyone with a piano is a pianist", "Anyone with a test tube is a chemist", "Anyone with a microphone is a vocalist" (although Idols might suggest something else), "Anyone with a scalpel is a surgeon", or "Anybody with brain is smart". What devilry makes people think that writing, publishing, and producing are so easy that anyone can do them, given a computer?

(Asks a boy who wrote and published this

with a computer and Internet connection)