Pros
In this new “Age of Empowerment” as the optimistic Joe Trippi states in a segment from The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, the Internet is the new TV, which was the new Newspaper, which was the new letter carrier, which was the new… you get the idea. So now we have the Internet, a wide and fast moving, never-ending book of knowledge and awareness. Anyone can lean just about any thing on the World Wide Web these days and according to Joe Trippi, together in this mesh of wires and optic links, this new technology is the way that we, as a societal whole, can have the power to change the government, as we know it.
There are many pros with this public bulletin board that we call the Internet, one of which is speed. Without the almost instantaneous like speed that it takes for one document on one side of the world to reach someone on the other side of the world, we would just be living in an era of delayed news, and thank the lord and the ever expanding technological advances given to us by geeks in silicon valley, this is possible. The war on Iraq is closer to home than we have ever been with any war, ever. We have had access to coverage on the front lines from day one, well arguably, but at least the technology is there, once again, thanks to the Internet.
This tool, this thing that exists in our laptops and cell phones, has the ability to play an enormous role in providing force for political and social change in not just America and the World as a whole. It is a network that is a source of communication between the average Joe and the people that are in the powerful positions that govern them. Like Joe Trippi says, “It’s ours… it’s up to us.” With the uniting capabilities that the Internet allows us, we have the opportunity as a whole to work together to do something as little as buying and selling Pez dispensers or something as big as elect an official to be our head of state. As Thomas Jefferson says, “What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?”
Other Pros:
-The Net builds communities, brings together people from all over the world and unites cities together building common interests and helping causes that are important to communities.
-Promotes old-fashioned skills that the TV has taken from society, reading and writing.
-Quickly organizes mass amounts of people in an inexpensive and many times free, way.
-Makes us smarter through the large amount of information that is available at our fingertips.
-It catches and has the ability to report more news and events than the era of print media ever could have.
-The Internet has no fear of losing its advertisers or sponsors to ill-fated reporting, therefore allows for a wider and more diverse range of reporting at times of war and politics.
Cons
A huge con to this surplus of information that is coming from all sorts of outlets of the digital and viral type is that there is just no censorship. At least, this is a problem for the Donald Rumsfelds of the world and I agree, somewhat. In the long run, the people deserve to know, to read and to see the news for, as it is, brutally honest. Yet, some news regarding defense and security, public and private, should be monitored and kept under wraps.
More cons to this new age of technology is that it opens doors for communication whether that information is of the good, the bad, or the ugly, it is free to roam the web. This means solicitors, fraudulent websites, and viruses. People will attempt, and more than not, succeed to invade the privacy of millions of Internet users. Copyrights will be violated; the World Wide Web will become a different kind of war zone.
Other Cons:
-Misinformation.
What are some more cons to this “Age of Empowerment” led by the Internet?
Sunday, October 5, 2008
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