In Lee Siegel’s Against The Machine, he has an irreverent approach to the new technologies of the Internet. It is obvious that he was hurt by the “mean” blogs posted about some of his previous works, and has decided to attack the foundations of the Internet in general so he could be like Ralph Nadar in his attack on the automobile industry. Cars were the cause of death of tens of thousands of Americans every year and the car manufacturers were covering up their ability to decrease these numbers. There is no such conspiracy behind the Internet, and although it may be true that the new technologies are creating more individuals, it is not causing mass death covered up by the moguls in the field.
Siegel is also incorrect in his analysis of the “mega-democracy.” He defined mega-democracy as “democracy about to tip through perversion of its principles into its opposite” (Siegel 79). The increased number of active participants of democracy on the Internet will not turn the United States away from a democracy. If it does anything, it will make more people interested in the democratic workings of our country and make The US even more so a government run by the people.
His attacks on Web 2.0 are also inaccurate in that he believes the new social interactions of people on the Internet are problems. Even if people are communicating in person less and less, they are making up for it by communicating with each other online. It is true that the Internet is a permanent technology, and if we stop its social networking progress, the social interactions will be greatly reduced, both in person and online.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I agree with Jacob. The American democratic system is not very democratic. For most people, their ability to influence policy or even get their voice heard is limited to elections, and most people don't even participate in that! But that's a different issue. I feel that democracy will only see positive things from the internet. It allows and encourages the exchanges of opinions, and gives people a voice that can be heard by millions of others.
It is not feasible to allow every citizen to vote on every single issue. Through the internet people can now feel connected to the political process and give their input easily to their senator or governor and thus potentially directly effect democracy.
Post a Comment