“The greatest exporter of freedom is not the military – it’s the internet. I would even say – more than television – people are getting their news and information from the internet. As an American and believing in the freedom of the press I always assumed our news was the most accurate – but our news is driven by consumerism, not a government. Our news publishes what sells – it slants and biases the news as market share. We get it the same way other governments let dictators influence it. You have to watch FOX & CNN and guess somewhere in the middle. I like the BBC. I’ve even recently heard several Americans who travel globally say Al Jazeera is fair and balanced. Who knows? But if you’re on the internet and you can read all their websites and the people they write about you can go to their websites – you can find out whatever you need to know.”
Bob Roberts @ GlocalNet
The first line of that paragraphed grabbed me & has hung with me since the moment that I read it. I was set up & ready for it. As I had been loosely keeping up with what was happening in Egypt, I remember looking at pics in a news article of the massive crowds. At one point I wondered…”If this were 20 years ago and there was no internet…no massive swell of information, would these crowds have been massacred?” Is the uncontrollable flow of information what keeps them alive? If this is true, then this leads to some very interesting possibilities and disturbing questions.
1) Does this constant connectivity (twitter, facebook, numerous internet sources, twitter pics and live streaming, etc.) keep oppressive governments from massacring people? Are they loosing the weapon of fear because of how the world will see them? If so this gives us huge opportunities to bring about non-violent change. The masses can rise up against their oppressors; they use social media to gain attention and then they continue producing huge amounts of information flow. But social media alone won’t do it..it will ask for the world to look but they must keep showing up to protest and speak/sing/shout their hearts & minds.
2) If this then is true, we see those poorer countries who do not have as much connectivity and where social media is
not as widely used, having a disadvantage when it comes to rally global interest in a stand against tyranny.
3) How then can we move into spaces and help participate or even just support the proliferation of change through the advancement of connectivity?
4) Will we ever get that brute force only changes things for a moment or maybe even for a period of time but without change of heart with helping people aspire to the greater good where they consider others first…real change will never come.
5) Our level of connectivity and knowledge can lead to a dark place as well. We are more aware of dreadful situations all over the planet. Those of us who are Christians know that we are called to bring peace and hope to these situations. We now see & read & hear about so many of them, I wonder if we are not only numb but we carry a sense of underlying guilt because we know better. We know we need to engage and we often don’t…which leads to a guilt, which forces us to avoid the real. We just linger out in delusionville pretending that everything is okay and someone else will fix it. This overload of stories could in a way be hurting us.
What else do this show us?
I agree wholeheartedly with Bob that the internet seems to be king and TV is useless. I just watched yet another video of a news story where Fox News doctored news footage to give the story they wanted to give. (They used 2010 footage from an event and tried to pass it off as crowd reaction from the same event in 2011. Sadly this about the 5th or 6th video that i’ve seen like this about Fox News. I’m sure they probably all do it but these guys need to work harder to not get caught.)
The internet is spreading more than pics, and videos. It is spreading ideas. Discussions are kicking up again.
Ryan Bolger pointed out to our DMiss cohort a couple of weeks back the following idea that I am seeing played out over & over and is huge in situations like what we’ve seen in Egypt.
*The printing press proliferated knowledge as books became more available but with this move the author or teacher is not needed as much. The reader has his/her info, his/her knowledge and they can go and use it as they will. The art of Dialogue and verbal information exchange began to be lost.
*Now we have reached a place where the internet through social media is bringing the dialogue back. Often when you buy a book or find out about an author or artist, you then find them on Twitter or Facebook. You connect with them and groups of people who are “fans” like you. These connections and the discussions that social media invites are bringing back dialogue. People are talking about tough issues and that is a good thing.
I hope & pray that as the information and knowledge spreads we will not close off but will embrace the dialogue. Let’s be part of the conversation and not be the conversation. The internet let’s us be a part our ideas that brut force can change everything just makes us the focus of the conversation.
Free flow of information is power and it brings freedom. Let’s find places to share real stories and help build real spaces of freedom.
Peace ~
I. In an aural/story telling culture knowledge was tied to relationship, experience & time