I was surprised when I came across this article that it wasn’t a joke. Every reason stated for why the internet needs saving I found as a reason that nothing is broken. People don’t say who they are?! Oh no, that means you have to consider your source just like in the real world. When you see an anonymous post, it means just that, some nameless moron. Take it or leave it. Would my words really carry more weight if my picture and name stood next to them? Would you remember my name tomorrow if you found them upsetting? I strongly disagree with what I’ve just read, but if you asked me the author’s name now, I’d have to scroll up to tell you. Doesn’t the content of a message mean anything? When we hear words on TV spoken by a talking head, should we consider the content to have more meaning just because we know who is speaking them? Isn’t that just playing into the narcissism of the Bill O’realys that networks and news papers sodomize us with everyday?

This lack of social shame is one of the best examples of why the internet with out censorship is a wonderful thing. We are free to speak our minds with out the worry of the PC police ruining our day. When the masses in the rest of the media say things that we used to just have to accept, now we can say “NO! I don’t believe you! And here is why….” We share our ideas for better or worse. When you post hateful poorly thought out comments, they will be taken for what they are and ignored by the majority. The fact that you have the right to make them with out retribution is the beauty. We get the purest truth from the inane rants we read. We do get in a small way a “real world” that we would never be able to view otherwise. For better or worse at least it’s people saying what they believe and not people being ashamed because there views are different.

I do agree the internet is a mirror, I don’t agree that we can change what we are. These things we see here, both the good and the bad are in our nature. Not only have they always have been there, but they have always been reflected in our media. The only thing that has changed is we all have a voice. Every single example of the horrors of the internet presented in this article was with us long before. “Rampant intellectual property theft” The Soviet Union made that an art form for 40 years. “Extreme pornography” Every culture going back 1000s of years has there examples. “Sexual promiscuity” I think most of us know someone that fits in that category out in the real world and doesn’t even use a computer in the process. “Plagiarism” Encyclopedias were the key source long before the first kid figured out he could use AOL for something other then finding porn. “Gambling” Right after man made fire, he played a game of chance under it’s light.
“Contempt for order” Anarchy in the UK isn’t considered a classic punk song cause of it’s good beat. The culture has always been there. “Incessant spam” When I was a kid we used to allowed by law to burn trash on Sundays in our town. So I would help my father carry out all the old newspapers and junk mail to be burned once a month. The Junk mail stack was always larger. “A trash heap of user-generated-content” Just flip to the “Spout off” section of your local news paper. Then find an old copy from 20 years ago. Same trash heap, different Anonymous morons.

My point is, if you’ve even bothered to read this far, the internet is a mirror, but it’s not showing us anything new, it’s just putting it all in front of us in one place.

But hey, what do I know? I'm just one more nameless moron.