The Internet – A Place Where Freedom Of Expression And Speech Is Valued

By Author: Roy Fernandez
Total Articles: 9
Comment this article

Speaking of the internet in general, almost all discussions are more causal and often more aggressive than face-to-face, and because of that less productive. The anonymity makes it easy for people to go over the board when they feel passionate about a subject. This is a struggle I have with this medium.

The internet has become a place of sound bite activism. It is no surprise to me that Twitter is doing so well. Even back before the internet was public, those of us who used local BBS public forums saw this. If your post was longer than a couple short paragraphs, no one would read anything but the first and last sentences, no matter how well presented.

For activism, Obama used the internet masterfully to mobilize his supporters. But in the end there was little of substance (not that that is any different than any other political campaign) even when there was a lot of material. The idea is to get a short message that sells then say it over and over, like a cigarette ad. The same rule applies as it does in Twitter or in those old BBS posts: keep it short or people won't read it.

Most political ...
... discussions reach a level of noise where people are just shouting their respective ideologies, then the conversation turns to hurt feelings. Also, because of the vast amount of opinions on the net, one must be over-the-top to break through the noise-level and be heard. Internet fosters loud conversation.

This forum tends to be better about that. People aren't shy about long posts, and there is at least a core group here who actually reads what you write. Still, we very rarely make it any farther in political discussions than the expression of our own sundry ideologies. Ironically, we aren't even that good at raising attention about competing political movements (e.g. Discovery Institute attempts to change science education in the USA), coming to most of these late or focusing on small issues. Lastly, there is a feeling on these forums that we are off to one side and the Bright movement is happening somewhere else. I'm not sure how true that is, but I have never seen a single post by the founders or any of the big names they show on the website.

As a mechanism for expression, the Internet is unmatched in history. As a method of discussion, it's a shallow pool. If you want a discussion that leads to team building, consensus, or even action, the internet is relatively useless. Face to face is still the best method for that. The fact is that 99.9% of the people with strong opinions of action are really only going to talk about action. I may be one of those people as I have been on these forums for a couple years now and have done little outside of small personal actions for the movement.

There is also the phenomenon lately of sock puppets. On many of the more popular blogs, people are logging in on more than one account and having conversations with themselves, in essence supporting their own opinions in the public discussion. This is only possible because of anonymity.

I'm a believer in freedom of expression and speech, and the internet is great for that for sure. The Internet can be accessed through popular services like Comcast Cable. However, if you want to get something done, unrestrained discourse may not be a very good method of communication. I'm also a believer in taking credit and responsibility for what I say, even when posting under a pseudonym/avatar/nickname.

Sometimes short is pithy, often it is just short. Loud and obnoxious is almost always loud and obnoxious.

Roy Fernandez is a freelancer and an active blogger. He enjoys writing about popular cable services like comcast cable