Monday, February 19, 2007
Participate
A friend of mine recently inquired about my take on the situation in the US, specifically along the lines of whether I thought there was any hope for our country to move beyond cynical criminality. My initial response was that it was going to take some time, involve considerable pain, and probably happen in ways we can't yet imagine.
Further along in our conversation, though, I admitted to a fascination with the rapid expansion of unmediated discussion taking place on and offline, and couldn't help but wonder what impact this new form of communication might have on us both politically and culturally. To me, the evolution of public perceptions about such things as governance, militarism, and consumerism alone in the last few years has been astounding.
Will all this undirected educational activity translate into a serious pursuit of sanity on a workable scale? I honestly don't know. In fact, I'm not sure we can know. All we can do is participate and see how things shake out. If that gives us hope, then more power to us.
Further along in our conversation, though, I admitted to a fascination with the rapid expansion of unmediated discussion taking place on and offline, and couldn't help but wonder what impact this new form of communication might have on us both politically and culturally. To me, the evolution of public perceptions about such things as governance, militarism, and consumerism alone in the last few years has been astounding.
Will all this undirected educational activity translate into a serious pursuit of sanity on a workable scale? I honestly don't know. In fact, I'm not sure we can know. All we can do is participate and see how things shake out. If that gives us hope, then more power to us.
