Love and Hate Relations With Information

The internet is a place where information is quick and easy to come by. Some people are becoming increasingly concerned about this in relation to issues of privacy. The article "Don't Go There!" by Todd Shield which appeared in a 2001 copy of Editor & Publisher looks at this very issue.

On one hand there is the idea that information should not be kept secret. People in the media industry (particularly those in news and journalism) like being able to use the internet as a tool to find information that might otherwise be difficult to come by. The internet not only makes their job easier, but it provides them with more in depth information than almost any other source. Besides, it helps the keep track of what "big brother" is up to and they seem to feel pretty confident that the general public is concerned with what the government is doing...or not doing. Basically, the age old tradition of "the people (or public) have a right to know" seems to run as strongly as ever.

Obviously the people or persons being reported on by the media are some of the first to express a desire for privacy, but do they have a point. After all, it's not okay for anyone to open your mail and read it...so what about your email. Is it okay for the media, the public, or even your own boss to read your personal messages on the internet? And as for the government, should there be a problem with keeping sensitive material censored or off the web? If it's something that would put people at risk it would seem a positive thing to do.

The debate will continue...as they usually do. In the end I'm not sure they will ever be able to come to a decision. Eventually, I think the responsibility will fall on the individual. We need to be conscious that the web has many corners and most of those corners are accessible by more people than we know (or care to know).

A BATTLEFIELD OF BLOGS

This post is in regards to the article "Blogs of War" writen by Paul S. Piper and Miguel Ramos. The article published last Feburary presents the many roles blogs and the internet have played over the last several years during the War on Terrorism. It gives examples of such blogs (including their URL's) with some details as to who the authors of the blogs are. The article lacks opinion, but instead tries to focus on facts. Because of this the reader is left to come to their own ideas about how effective these "war" blogs are, if they should be considered accurate accounts of what's really going on in Iraq, and if blogging is putting people in a war zone at risk.

Since I did read this article and this is an opinionated blog page I am going to share my thoughts. "War blogs" present the human element of war in a way that other media nolonger can. It is important that people are reminded of how real war really is. Sometimes it seems so easy to pass off war as something that is far away and does not concern us. Reading these blogs reminds us of the loss of life, the hardship, and the people who we would otherwise never know or hear from. To silence these blogs would be to deny history.

MEDIA WORLD

Behold the power of the press. The American public is quick to revere the press...yet, ironically is equally quick to criticize the press as well. As I read from the book Media Literacy (2nd edition) I discovered that not much of what it contained seem surprising. What I read was well written and supported by lots of polls, studies, and research. Unfortunately, much of the supporting data was old. I didn't find anything published since the year 2000 and some sources were over 10 years old. That was about the only thing I could find at fault with the text though.

As I read about news myths and the commercialization of news I was reminded of an interview in a movie relative to the topic. In Michael Moore's film "Bowling for Columbine" he has a brief interview with Marilyn Manson and I must admit that eventhought I am not a fan of Mr. Manson's music I was blown away at what he had to say (this can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310793/quotes) about the media.

"Marilyn Manson: The two by-products of that whole tragedy were, violence in entertainment, and gun control. And how perfect that that was the two things that we were going to talk about with the upcoming election. And also, then we forgot about Monica Lewinsky and we forgot about, uh, the President was shooting bombs overseas, yet I'm a bad guy because I, well I sing some rock-and-roll songs, and who's a bigger influence, the President or Marilyn Manson? I'd like to think me, but I'm going to go with the President.
Michael Moore: Do you know that on the day of the Columbine massacre, the US dropped more bombs on Kosovo than any other day?
Marilyn Manson: I do know that, and I think that's really ironic, that nobody said 'well maybe the President had an influence on this violent behavior' Because that's not the way the media wants to take it and spin it, and turn it into fear, because then you're watching television, you're watching the news, you're being pumped full of fear, there's floods, there's AIDS, there's murder, cut to commercial, buy the Acura, buy the Colgate, if you have bad breath they're not going to talk to you, if you have pimples, the girl's not going to fuck you, and it's just this campaign of fear, and consumption, and that's what I think it's all based on, the whole idea of 'keep everyone afraid, and they'll consume.' "

AMERICA...served as a book?

John Stewart's recipe for fun:
1 - grade school text book
1 - children's activity book
25 - episodes of "The Daily Show"
42 - pounds of sarcasm

Combine all ingredients in a large blender and be careful not to spill any of the sarcasm (you do not what to have to clean that up) on the floor. Once you have a good mush just scoop it into a pan on top of a solid binding and enjoy.
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Reading John Stewart's "America (the book)" was the most fun I have had reading a book for a college class in a long time. In fact, I think I will be looking at purchasing it once I have saved up some pocket change. The book is overflowing with sarcasm and irony, but its messages are displayed with fun, colorful images that keep you turning the pages again and again.

In the beginning...

Today a blog was created...
Tomorrow...who knows what could happen.