Oh, the horror.
You'd think, from the online reaction, that people are being jailed for thoughtcrime. That the government was trying to censor the Internet. That Harper's into mind control.
Whatever.
How many of these same people have ever thought to themselves what the hell is the government up to? What are they thinking? Do they even know how to think? How many of these same people work up a lather imagining government secrecy and opacity? How many would react a little differently if, say, Ignatieff was in power and the Blogging Tories were spreading manure around the Net?
I'm really not sure what drives the outrage, here. I suspect part of it is the shattering of the illusion that so many insist on lovingly cultivating. You know the one I mean: the illusion that whatever you post in an online forum is only visible to a select few. If they're seeing my words, the faulty thinking goes, then on some level I know them and they know me and everything's okay. Some people can stretch their minds enough to admit that strangers are viewing their thoughts, maybe even strangers who may bear them ill will...but it appears nobody has even considered that some of those strangers might work for (gasp) the Big Bad Government.
If I ever needed further proof that the Net cultivates a hive mind, it's here in spades. "Conservative propaganda", sputters the top-voted comment on CBC.ca, as if anything associated with Harper is propaganda by definition. Reasonable debate be damned: obviously the government, or at least this government, doesn't have the right to publicly air an opinion. Preposterous.
I for one welcome this initiative and think it should be expanded. Imagine being able to react in real time as the feds formulate policy. Imagine having the whole of Wikipedia at your disposal as you rebut some inane piece of legislation being contemplated. Imagine YouTube videos soliciting opinions, tweets updating progress, Facebook groups for and against all manner of things (just as exist now) but where you know somebody's paying attention. This is what the Internet is FOR, people! Empowerment of Joe and Jill Citizen!
2 comments:
If only Joe and Jill used the power available to them and that they are responsible for; ensuring that what you beleive is in fact, a fact. Not many do, it's sad.
Of course you're right...at least getting two or sixteen DIFFERING viewpoints out in the open is a step in the right direction. We've all seen Internet forums degenerate into self-congratulatory circle-jerks. (Buncha jerks in a circle...) There is a lot of smouldering dislike of both our governments, Rocket: they stand for some respectively 'un-American' and 'un-Canadian' things. The chance to engage a government in debate on neutral ground should never be passed up, is my view.
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