by Blaine Fridley, Modern Day Warrior/Today's Tom Sawyer
Hey guys! What's up?
So do you know about the World Wide Web?
It's fucking awesome, right?
Shut up!
Of course it is.
Stop wasting my time answering rhetorical questions, you big dummies.
It's the fucking coolest thing to happen to planet Earth since this:
Name anything. MusicmoviespornharvestedorgansANYTHING - in the whole wide world - and the World Wide Web will get it for you.
Just type it in the Googles and the Googles will abide.
Basically, it's a much more efficient version of the guy that used to sell shit out of the back of his van at your neighborhood strip mall.
But do you know what else?
The Interwebs are good for another thing besides pirated music, entertainment news and masturbation.
But do you know what else?
The Interwebs are good for another thing besides pirated music, entertainment news and masturbation.
Identity theft.
wait.
oh!
And self-empowering knowledge.
wait.
oh!
And self-empowering knowledge.
The kind that can be used to hold those responsible for our well-being accountable.
With the Internet, there's absolutely NO reason not to be informed.
Don't know something?
It's a 5 second search away.
The way it's currently being used - basically, as way to pass the time - has turned it into just another distraction to keep us in the dark.
We seem to be less aware despite having easy access to more information than we've ever had in history.
Over the last week or two, the Internet's role in Iran's post-election turmoil has been discussed at length. More specifically, Twitter's role in disseminating information in the face of an oppressive regime.
Surely, the sheer volume of images - ruthless brutality, bloodied protesters, demonstrators shot dead on the streets - and reports are made possible only through the existence of the Internet.
People on every continent can witness the same thing those impassioned masses in Tehran are seeing. In real time.
The question is, what do we do with this information?
In the case of Iran, a strongly-worded blog post may not have much of an effect on the Supreme Leader and Co.
The hope there, I think, is that change might come about as a result of the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad working under the bright light and intense scrutiny provided by a constant barrage of Twitter reports, unfiltered images and commentary straight from the scene. This, in concert with extreme actions by the government, may cause Iran's supporters to back away, isolating Mahmoud and the gang, thereby forcing them to start making concessions.
Kinda like the Kim Jong-Il method.
The problem, of course - as displayed by North Korea - is that method doesn't account for crazy.
Kim Jong-Il has obviously decided Kim Jong-Il is gonna do what Kim Jong-Il wanna do.
Sanctions be damned.
His whole nation could starve. But he's gonna get his nukes, goddammit.
And one gets the same feeling with Ahmadinejad.
That boy just ain't right. But is he crazy enough to sacrifice his people to make a point? The major difference, of course, is that he ultimately has to answer to the Ayatollah. Kim Jong-Il, nobody.
But this is an extreme example and slightly overshooting my intended point.
With the Internet, there's absolutely NO reason not to be informed.
Don't know something?
It's a 5 second search away.
What once was a time-consuming ordeal with card catalogs and microfiche and encyclopedias and mean old librarians can now be researched in a matter of minutes.
It's the greatest ignorance-eradicating tool (tool. teehee) mankind has ever had at its disposal.
Yet we're busy taking the "What Golden Girl Are You" Facebook quiz. (I'm Blanche, by the way.)
Yet we're busy taking the "What Golden Girl Are You" Facebook quiz. (I'm Blanche, by the way.)
(Above) Slutty, seventy and LOVING IT!
We seem to be less aware despite having easy access to more information than we've ever had in history.
Over the last week or two, the Internet's role in Iran's post-election turmoil has been discussed at length. More specifically, Twitter's role in disseminating information in the face of an oppressive regime.
Surely, the sheer volume of images - ruthless brutality, bloodied protesters, demonstrators shot dead on the streets - and reports are made possible only through the existence of the Internet.
People on every continent can witness the same thing those impassioned masses in Tehran are seeing. In real time.
The question is, what do we do with this information?
In the case of Iran, a strongly-worded blog post may not have much of an effect on the Supreme Leader and Co.
The hope there, I think, is that change might come about as a result of the Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad working under the bright light and intense scrutiny provided by a constant barrage of Twitter reports, unfiltered images and commentary straight from the scene. This, in concert with extreme actions by the government, may cause Iran's supporters to back away, isolating Mahmoud and the gang, thereby forcing them to start making concessions.
Kinda like the Kim Jong-Il method.
The problem, of course - as displayed by North Korea - is that method doesn't account for crazy.
Kim Jong-Il has obviously decided Kim Jong-Il is gonna do what Kim Jong-Il wanna do.
Sanctions be damned.
His whole nation could starve. But he's gonna get his nukes, goddammit.
And one gets the same feeling with Ahmadinejad.
That boy just ain't right. But is he crazy enough to sacrifice his people to make a point? The major difference, of course, is that he ultimately has to answer to the Ayatollah. Kim Jong-Il, nobody.
But this is an extreme example and slightly overshooting my intended point.
Change starts in your own backyard.
All the info you need to stop bitching and start making changes is sitting right in your lap(top).
Knowledge. It's IN the computer?
All the info you need to stop bitching and start making changes is sitting right in your lap(top).
Knowledge. It's IN the computer?Everything you'd ever want to know about your local government is online to see. Contact info, too.
The same for your state and federal reps.
The same for your state and federal reps.
Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, the curtain can be pulled back if you truly want to see what's behind it.
Again, anything you want to know you can know.
The beauty is, you don't even need to bother with news outlets and their shabby (and in many cases, profit-influenced) reporting. You can access the same sources that journalists use before they slant the story to please their corporate pimps.
And it'd still leave you with plenty of time to upload that video of you lighting your own farts.
'cuz that's just like, awesome.
Again, anything you want to know you can know.
The beauty is, you don't even need to bother with news outlets and their shabby (and in many cases, profit-influenced) reporting. You can access the same sources that journalists use before they slant the story to please their corporate pimps.
And it'd still leave you with plenty of time to upload that video of you lighting your own farts.
'cuz that's just like, awesome.
And the world needs to see that too.
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1 comment:
Testify, my brother.
FOIA opened the way for us proletarians to become knowledgemizized. It's sad the there's an under-utilization of the knowledgmization.
To quote My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, "Hey Poor! Hey Poor! Hey Poor, you don't have to be poor anymore! Jesus is Here!" Poor being the misinformed and Jesus being the Internets.
That Nerf commercial is boss, by the way.
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