Zickmunds piece and Google

In her article, Approaching The Radical Other, Susan Zickmund suggest that the radicals and extremist demonstrate their hate online and are getting support against blameless members of society. She first talks about the problems with censorship and then moves on to say that those supremacist or radicals have a community online but can’t have as tight net a group in the public. The purpose of the article is to inform the public that these online hate groups do exist, but at the same time none of them have the courage to say in public what they say online. This article is directed to those of us that spend a lot of time on the Internet and those of us that have pride in our ethnic or religious background.
Earlier in the semester we read in article called Dropping The Bomb on Google, by John Brandon which talked about a site called Jew Watch that was at the top of googles search result when a 26 year old man typed in the word “Jew”. Like I said before I can see why there is a problem with this, but at the same time the search engine ranks them on the basis of how many times the site was viewed. This is a prime example of the hate groups and supremacist online, or possible recruits that I like to call deadwood. You know, those kids in school that were always kind of weird and would fall in with whoever would accept them. I believe they are the ones that will get online and type all the hate letters and blogs, but when they are in the public the keep there mouth shut. The power of persuasion is a strong and irresistible urge that some people don’t have the will power to fight. Granted there are some extremist out there that believe it or not, are stupid enough to preach this hate and believe what they say. This is were they need to loose their civil liberties and we need to start taking some responsibility. But that’s censorship, so what. We should treat them like the animals they are. The people or companies that host these web sites should be just as much to blame as those who are making the acquisitions, not googles search engine. Everybody thinks the web is just this free area of open space they put whatever they want, but these people have to rent these sites and pay to keep them up. So really those companies that host these sites really only care about that nine or fourteen dollars a month they’re getting. They should step up and say, you know free speech is one thing but hate speech is another and we don’t want any part of this. But as long as money is around and extremist that have time to waste on some worthless cause, then there will always be these supremacist communities throughout the Internet and beyond.

Jean baudrillard+cyberspace

In class we discussed theorists such as Jean baudrillard, Deleuze and Guattari, and foucault and discussed their connection with cyberspace. Our assignment was to do a search on the internet and find info on the theorist we were assigned in class. When I typed Baudrillard+cyberspace in I came up with many sites. One of the sites talked of the internet as both as a technological artifact and as a popular image that provides a site for exploring "the world".
Many Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory and Postmodern web sites were explaining hes views on postmodern thought. The sites all emphasized his interest in simulation. Our book, an introduction to cyber cultures by David Bell gives an overview of his main philosophy. He believes that we are now living our lives computer screen by computer screen, he calls it the "ecstasy of communication". It also discusses how postmodern signs have now been distorted from reality. Baudrillard makes the analogy of America as being a make believe Disneyland. I can relate to what this says and even understand it, but I find it hard to believe that are whole perception of reality has changed. Of course the guy that sets in front of the computer screen hours on end may have a distortion of reality. However, I don't believe the everyday person's reality is affected much. Another good point Baudrillard made is that we have become over mediatized and this to distorts are reality. This I believe does distort our reality, because there is someone behind editing a interview or deciding what will be on the news. The problem with this is that we don't get the whole story, we get bits and pieces that in turn shape our realities. He uses the example of the gulf war saying with the technology on television it looks fake. I mean now we can see un manned flying drones on the news and think wow, now nobody should get killed. I am a strong believer in media purposely trying to pursued groups one way or another. Except for fox and my man bill O'Reilly..

technological experience

What is my technological history? I can remember the day my father came home with this boxy looking object that he plugged in. I remember thinking to myself how boring, im going to go play Nintendo. Little did I know that that boxy object would become a huge part of my life as a student. It wasn’t until maybe the third grade that I realized computers had games. Before the computer I was mainly old school, listening to rock and roll with my pops, and yes I did have a teddy ruxpin, but I don’t know if he was really my best friend or if he was just saying that. When the internet became more widely available, I found myself playing around teaching myself various things. Eventually in school we had to take computer test, typing classes, and writing your papers in word. Now in college the computer is everything to me. I would be utterly lost without it. I totally moved away from going to the library and doing most of everything online. The computer offers me entertainment and any educational information. As a student it is important to stay in contact with teachers and students, which I mainly do through e-mail. As a student, if I didn’t have the computer or the internet I wouldn’t know where to start, which may come off as pathetic, but that’s just the way I was taught to do everything. This is a trend that has been growing for a while, for example most kids when they see a math problem they don’t pull out a pencil and pad, but pull out a calculator. Our experiences today are built around technology.

what childhood toy am i?

You're a Garbage Pail Kid!! You're dirty, foul,
disgusting, and wrong. But you're still funny
as hell.


What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
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Google mail bug sparks storage rumors

In his article, Gmail Bug Sparks Storage Rumors (May 19, 2004), Amit Asaravala States that a bug in Googles system stated that it would give its users 1 million megabytes of storage space for free, executives quickly corrected the statement by saying there is 1 gigabyte of free e-mail storage, but you must view the ads along side your email. This was a quickly spread rumor that got the attention of google, which then raised the question of privacy rights with regards to email. The purpose of the article was to inform the mis-informed and to tell users that their privacy right would be violated with the new email. The author was cleary directing this warning to those not so computer savvy users.
The first problem is that the information was misleading regarding the e-mail services offered by google, apparantly by a bug in the system. Bug or no bug, its still free and yet some people still find something to complain about. We always feel as though we have to find something wrong and make it right, this is one of our main problems as a society. I guess it makes us feel as though we done something to make a difference, but really its just to accomadate ourselves.Do we expect those such as yahoo, hotmail, and google to just give us free run with email. They are a business, and businesses main goal is to make money. Advertisments are just the way these companies earn money so they can afford to give us these services.

some other good articles

Wired.com is a good source for interesting articles, many of which we will write on later.

Queer spaces, modem boys and pagan statues

In his article, Queer spaces, modem boys and pagan statues, Randel Woodland states that the internet has opened up a new communication channel and virtual community for the gay and lesbian population. He goes into detail on different programs that are suited for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. He is obviously reaching out to our society that there are safe and secure places for these people to interact.

Of course when we talk of the gay and lesbian community, some people find that a contreversial topic enough. Lets leave out any moral implications, and speak soley on the fact that gays and lesbians are finding it easier to interact with people that share those similar interest. The internet provides many facets for many people and allows them to be themselves freely, something they are robbed of everyday. Lets face it, times have changed, and people can go on living without living in fear.