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could the internet save the world?

  
 
autopilot disengaged
05:34 / 20.09.01
ok: have to be vee vee brief, but i was just thinking...

certain theorists claim that US involvement in Vietnam was, eventually, unsustainable because it was the first war to enter the domestic consciousness via TV - i haven't got the time to look up right now, but i think it was Marshall McLuhan - 'the Vietnam war was lost in the living rooms of America...'

well: now we've got a new medium. this. the internet. and a war in which a large number of people in the Western nations have access to information from an array of sources - having the ability, at least, to sidestep the top-down media model.

it's already had a big effect on protest - what effect will it have (if any) on the conflict to come?

right: now i'm gonna go and be late for work.
 
 
Voidmind
06:19 / 20.09.01
Most likely (And we've already seen evidence of this I think) is breakdown of (dis)information fed to us by the popular media

It gives thge common people a means of gaining access to information quickly

However these forms can also be heavily biased as well, given the common persons own beliefs.

Though Bush's policy on keeping things quiet may in fact hurt this medium...

in the end it may not change things at all
 
 
000
06:26 / 20.09.01
YES! its the internet that 'they' used at first for their own means, 'they' wanted to keep the internet as 'their 'weapon to control the people, but its this same medium that will bring the people together as it has don so already, here on barb you can witness every day the power of internet especially since the 911 events.
Its the internet that will be able to stop that what ‘they’ have in mind for us. Its their weapon of choice that will be used against them and there is nothing ‘they’ can do about it ,even if ‘they’ plan to bring it down. The big fall out due to terrorist treads. The reason why ‘they’ can not control the internet is because it’s a force kept together by the thoughts of the people, it’s the only force that is free of prejudice. Earthly possessions or status don’t matter in the realm of space. Its not about how you look like or what your status is on our planet, its about your thoughts, its about who you really are in your head. Most of us talk to people on the internet (just like here on barb ) were we would not even dream to think about in daily live. We have kids here who are loners, we have people of high schooling versus people with no schooling, we have men and women, elderly and youngsters, black and white and different religions from different countries talking to each-other without any bias thoughts. It’s the only medium were all can be as one. Remember the dream of Martin Luther King? “I have a dream, that one day we all can be together as 1” this was a prediction he made but did not know. Well his dream has come to full terms, the day the internet became accessible. The day the internet became accessible to the whole world, the day contact was possible around the entire planet, the circle of collective thoughts became 1.
So Yes ABSOLUTELY, the internet will save our planet and will safe many from the coming events, simply because they can reach out in the realms of the spirit world, when we write behind the computer for nobody to see, we log in trough our thoughts. What you write in absolute confinement emerges from your deepest self, this is who you are. Those who don’t feel free in the realms of this sprit world, those who use this medium to contact people trough lies and who have only one intention and that is mischief , will never wake-up for they also show their true faces.
GOOD THOUGHT!
Sincerely
 
 
Naked Flame
07:00 / 20.09.01
Rock on, Laila.

I see 2 problems tho...

1. Bush, as far as I know, isn't big on using the Net, and he's nominally in charge of the military/industrial complex.

2. The Net is only mainstream in a very few countries worldwide: its universality is a bit of an illusion.

What it *does* mean, though, is that we get to quote: sidestep the top-down media model.

Or, to put it another way, whereas truth used to be the first casualty of war, now it has a fighting chance.
 
 
rizla mission
08:31 / 20.09.01
While the internet may be useful for expressing anti-war/anti-government views, people who do so (especially during a war) would mostly be preaching to the converted.

Plus, TV's 'losing' of Vietnam only came about via reporters & photographers in the warzone, sending pictures and reports back first hand.

In the event of war in Afghanistan (especially an air or special forces war), would there be any frontline correspondants at all, let alone ones with speedy net connections and no qualms about pleasing the government/keeping up morale?
 
 
Naked Flame
12:00 / 20.09.01
volunteers, anyone?
 
 
Seth
12:19 / 20.09.01
When the web virus scare blew up yesterday, I considered for a fleeting instant whether it had something to do with the current global situation, that it was the effect of some extreme D-notice. I considered what it would take to bring down the net, shut it off, and what the implications were of its sudden non-existence. Whether it was the action of a Government wishing to crack down on freedom of thought and speech.

Hey, it was horrible not being able to log on and read you guys for most of the day. Work shut down the server, prevented access for everyone. In the style of all good speculative fiction writers, I extrapolated my experience into an alternate future. It's fun to spend a day in the mind of Orwell.

I was very tired, OK?

As far as the "preaching to the converted" thing, I've sent excerpts from this board winging around my office (mostly from the Chomsky thread). I've directed many people here for intelligent analysis. I've used stuff I learned here to help other people understand the situation. I prefer to think of it as "info for the converted to filter into the culture."
 
 
000
15:32 / 20.09.01
quote: by Naked Flame1. Bush, as far as I know, isn't big on using the Net, and he's nominally in charge of the military/industrial complex.
That is true the ruling parties hate the net, they have done every thing to stop the spreading of internet. They wanted to keep this exclusively to them self, they wanted to be the only ones to be able to be in contact with their world. But Bill Gates had other plans. They have don every thing they could to scare the simple minds from getting internet. Terrorist use the net, Sex all over the net protect your children from this evil, unwanted mail Spam, dangerous men luring your children over the net, Nazi madness on the net etc lies, lies, lies that is what the internet is suppose to be according to them. They thought, they had numbed the senses of the people enough for them not be able to form their own opinion about what they read. What they thought they could use as the perfect global ‘people’ spy, has turned against them, it has woken lots of people up and I am talking millions and millions of people around the world, its these same people they wanted to ‘sleep’. So now with the 911, they finally have been able to do that what they wanted to do for the longest, they have now scared the people enough not to use the internet, or to be aware of being spied on. So now they have begun with taking freedom away from the people who use the internet. But as with every virus(=them) there is a new anti-biotic on the way.()@/Y\~~*^^^

quote:2. The Net is only mainstream in a very few countries worldwide: its universality is a bit of an illusion..
Most parts of Africa have internet, India , Arab countries, Asian countries, The USA, all over Europe, Russia, to the Balkan counties, in Brazil where the poor kids have free schooling trough the internet, there are way more countries in the world that have internet, from Bali to Tibet to the most simple village in the Swiss alps. So yes not all can just access the net free or as easy as we do, but that is not the point , the point is that the web has connected these countries on 24/7, and that is all that is needed to let ‘others’ do the rest
quote: Or, to put it another way, whereas truth used to be the first casualty of war, now it has a fighting chance.

Absolute and AMEN!
 
 
netbanshee
18:16 / 20.09.01
...when the shit was going down in Kosovo...one of the things I thought most interesting about it was it's use of the internet to relay messages out of the area to tell people what was going on. Now I see the current problem being more difficult as so few people if any in Afganistan don't have access to it. But their close neighbors should, which is much better than tv's current perspective.

and...

quote:As far as the "preaching to the converted" thing, I've sent excerpts from this board winging around my office (mostly from the Chomsky thread). I've directed many people here for intelligent analysis. I've used stuff I learned here to help other people understand the situation. I prefer to think of it as "info for the converted to filter into the culture."

I completely agree...did the exact same thing...
 
 
autopilot disengaged
19:21 / 20.09.01
cool: and that's the exact thing: that, thru the technology - aided and abetted as it were - individual agents who give a fuck are given enlightened ammunition to use against a mainstream smokescreen (and that is a beautiful phrase).

laila: it's good to be on the right side of yr enthusiasm for once.

rizla: n3tbansh33's kind of stolen my thunder, but i was going to say exactly what he did - i remember kosova too - and the almost surreal experiance of being able to access their domestic account of what was happening - not westrern mavericks out there reporting - the actual people that lived there. that is an amazing shift - and must surely count for something.

'less, bansh33: how did the people react? as you can imagine, i'm pretty interested in this. i really think this diffusion of conflicting/alt.info could be a big, big thing. and, neatly, the absolute opposite of suicide bombing.
 
 
netbanshee
19:44 / 20.09.01
...all of my neighborlies thought that the information being derived was very useful in seeing a bigger picture but as you can imagine it's effect works best on those who have had some contact with these concepts already. Was also nice to hear..."where did you get this info"...an point them to the appropriate sources.

There is a bit of skepticism going on since it comes from the net but I speak passionately as a person who wants to use it to do more than talk about bombings, war, and social issues that should have more concern...I feel the internet will grow up and realise it's potential through people working at it. Barbelith is a great example of it in action. I mean...this is why I'm a multimedia designer hoping to be an online artist/activist. It's a little premature but it gets exponentially better every year, I'm hoping to grow with it.

But out of the rant, when I talked to my friends out at home (suburbia / valley life) without the same resources, you can imagine the views they had. They're compassionate people but lack the alternate input to widen the view. Also trying to contextualize the situation with info being critcal of the US made them a little more edgy...more than once, they wondered if I had anything GOOD to say about the US. I did, but when the scales aren't at least trying to be leveled, what do you expect?

It's hard, as I'm sure all of us know, but a few more people with interest and agreement help the meme to get some steam...
 
  
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