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My Thoughts Within COM110
Contraversy.. again?!?
February 8th, 2007 by alexwwong
Hey Alex. Even though you were talking about TV commercials and how divided we are, I think it’s safe to say we can extrapolate that sentiment to all of the biggest most important issues of our time–and the small ones too!
You’re right. It’s hard to get Americans to agree on ANYTHING these days. Politics. Sports. TV commercials. Movies. Religion. Art.
The great melting pot of our culture has become the great divide.
Here’s an example of polarization on an issue that you would think most right minded people could agree on.
The City of San Francisco wants to provide Wi-Fi service city wide. The service would be free to anyone who agrees to tap into the “advertiser” version provided by Google and Earthlnk and $21.95 a month for those who want the service without ads. Of course, in San Fran there is always controversy (and I would be pilloried for calling if SF or San Fran!) about everything. This is no exception. There are arguments along every front—ranging from who gets access to who pays for the increase in energy and electrical usage.
Here’s a link to the story in Monday’s LA Times.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wifi19feb19,0,104508.story?track=tothtml
The story points out other cities with similar issues. It’s amazing, we can’t agree to GIVE SOMETHING AWAY!
The idea if a noble one:
“…free wirelsss internet access has become the populist project of the decade. It’s envisioned as a way to overcome the so-called digital divide….” (LA Times, Feb 19)
…But in today’s America there is no building a consensus around anything. The Senate voted not to take a vote (on a non binding resolution on Iraq)!
We are gridlocked, deadlocked and just plain at a complete and utter standstill while the environment is ruined, our infrastructure crumbles, our schools collapse, our health care system is in shambles, our trade deficit is catastrophically huge and CEO ay hits record levels while laying off American workers by the tens of thousands. Our top three auto companies, airlines and utilities are toast.
And of course there is important work to be done in so many places around the globe where America’s wealth, technology and love of freedom could be helpful—places filled with starvation, ignorance, despair and disease.
Will the internet and global village help or cause further schism?
Are bloggers raising issues and helping to solve them, or simply widening the divide? Is the on line debate today so steeped in politics and polemics that it’s just a lot of what they call down in New Orleans “gumbo ya ya”.
We all saw the result of political infighting, argument and power struggles there….
My fear is that New Orleans and Katrina is an early round in a long, long fight.
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