Democracy and the Internet
The Internet and the World Wide Web have created a more democratic world. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
In 2012 the number of Internet users worldwide reached 2,27 billion. Considering not only the rapid growth in it's use but also it's incessent popularity, we might ask ourselves how it is affecting our society and whether it's helping the world become more democratic, or the complete contrary. “The Internet is populated by second-rate amateurs that are destroying our culture” says Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of The Amateur or How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy.
Though he was originally for the Internet, Keen has now become the self titled “antichrist of Silicon Valley”, since he continues to question and critique Internet's impact on mainstream media and our society's democratisation. He begins by affirming that the Internet is a mirror of today's society, on the one hand attractive and innovative, but on the other narcissitic and self important “we broadcast to our friends instead of learning from strangers”. In his eyes, the consecuence of this is the fragmentation of society, making all truths personal, therefore, taking a step away from democracy. “The web is the next stage of capitalism” he says in his interview on BBC Radio 4, explaining that the foundation and the values of the Internet, which can never be detached from it, are obsessed with being decentralised or 'on the edge', and that this hostility towards tradition and authority is reflected in the ideology of Internet companies, ruled by young men “spouting about equalitarian democratization”. However, those men are becoming rich and powerful at the expence of others, seemingly contradicting themselves. He even ventures to say that the Internet users are not to blame, as they are subjects or victims of forced conciousness, and they are being exploited. “This is cultural chaos and moral decay”. It's safe to assume Andrew
In 2012 the number of Internet users worldwide reached 2,27 billion. Considering not only the rapid growth in it's use but also it's incessent popularity, we might ask ourselves how it is affecting our society and whether it's helping the world become more democratic, or the complete contrary. “The Internet is populated by second-rate amateurs that are destroying our culture” says Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of The Amateur or How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy.
Though he was originally for the Internet, Keen has now become the self titled “antichrist of Silicon Valley”, since he continues to question and critique Internet's impact on mainstream media and our society's democratisation. He begins by affirming that the Internet is a mirror of today's society, on the one hand attractive and innovative, but on the other narcissitic and self important “we broadcast to our friends instead of learning from strangers”. In his eyes, the consecuence of this is the fragmentation of society, making all truths personal, therefore, taking a step away from democracy. “The web is the next stage of capitalism” he says in his interview on BBC Radio 4, explaining that the foundation and the values of the Internet, which can never be detached from it, are obsessed with being decentralised or 'on the edge', and that this hostility towards tradition and authority is reflected in the ideology of Internet companies, ruled by young men “spouting about equalitarian democratization”. However, those men are becoming rich and powerful at the expence of others, seemingly contradicting themselves. He even ventures to say that the Internet users are not to blame, as they are subjects or victims of forced conciousness, and they are being exploited. “This is cultural chaos and moral decay”. It's safe to assume Andrew