if you can do it, i can see it
I wish there was a middle ground that we could follow. A median between free speech, verbal harassment, and censorship.
It is a scary world, this internet-crazed world. I Google (that is a verb now) my name and my Facebook page comes up. It is all a bit absurd because in Iran, Facebook is a filtered website so if you try to find it a huge yellow pop-up appears instead of the web and says: ‘The Islamic Republic of Iran has filtered this website. Please notify us if this address has been mistakenly filtered.’
“Notify”!
Now that’s even more obnoxious. Not only there is no one to notify, but if you actually try to hunt down a “representative” and let him know that you can’t open up a social networking or a porn site, he will probably tazer you down and take you for questioning. One of the ways the Iranian government maintains control over its population is through phone tags and internet filters.
Other than that, it makes me wonder and usually very uneasy, when I think about the effects of bookmarking and folksonomy. On one hand, the fact is that for example the protests in Tibet can no longer be hidden by the Chinese government, giving the advancements in cellphone-pictures or the the creation of YouTube a worthy cause.
On the other hand, with the increase of individual selectivity, people are getting lazy with reading or learning about anything that is not of immediate interest or significance to them. The online world is becoming more and more dominant with specific categorizations of news (from politics to pop-culture), targeting specific groups of people (Fark for example).
I can imagine that in the future, when an issue like Tibet comes up, no one would know about it unless they Google it. That’s an extreme projection. But all I’m saying is that even though customizing our exposition to the million different stories out there sounds exciting, the most important or alarming issues are not always the easiest and most soothing ones to know.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
this is practice
1 comment:
you are so right. I feel like the internet makes us dumber and smarter at the same time. However, it is amazingly cool, that with a little work, you can find the coolest things that no library would have ever been able to give you. I mean the podcasts that harvard produce on their courses is amazing. and my art history daily podcast from the tate museum is also so awesome. but you are so right. people are lazy and frankly don't care much events that don't directly effect them right this minute. lame, I say!
xoesme
Post a Comment