*Ø* Blogmanac | To my fellow blogmasters and webmasters
Dear hard-working, dedicated, probably stressed-out friend,
Happy New Year!
Just some thoughts on our job.
There are more than six thousand million people sharing this little round rock with you and me.
They live in about 190 "nations", and when they read a website, if it says "national" or "our country", they shouldn't have to interpret that as meaning "American" unless they live in that particular one nation out of 190. The same goes for ezines and e-newsletters. Being the unchallengable global hegemon must surely indicate that some sensitivity is required towards the other 189.
The Internet is global and used in all those 190 nations. Like Australia. As much as we Aussies might admire Americans (and we do), we are not an American state quite yet. We would like, too, to see Internet news more reflective of the planetary realities. The world's in deep shit and Net news is so much about pop culture it's truly sick-making. And check out an "On This Day" website of any kind. It's as though only one country has any events, births or deaths. Hell, Lucille Ball's OK, and her birthday is interesting, but 3.5 million people have died in the Congo war in the past 3.3 years. Check it out. Is that not more important than some rich actor, or sports record?
However, it must be said about 99% of our brothers and sisters on this round rock have never used the Internet, and about half of them have never used a phone. That's only because of global inequity and injustice, and we must help it change. We, in our profression, can do a lot to alter the situation, largely by our awareness and use of words and images. Let's keep in touch with the real situation, please fellow blog owners and webmasters. I'm not directing this to any one person or group, just a tendency on the Internet. Thanks, and please pass it on if you agree.
Dear hard-working, dedicated, probably stressed-out friend,
Happy New Year!
Just some thoughts on our job.
There are more than six thousand million people sharing this little round rock with you and me.
They live in about 190 "nations", and when they read a website, if it says "national" or "our country", they shouldn't have to interpret that as meaning "American" unless they live in that particular one nation out of 190. The same goes for ezines and e-newsletters. Being the unchallengable global hegemon must surely indicate that some sensitivity is required towards the other 189.
The Internet is global and used in all those 190 nations. Like Australia. As much as we Aussies might admire Americans (and we do), we are not an American state quite yet. We would like, too, to see Internet news more reflective of the planetary realities. The world's in deep shit and Net news is so much about pop culture it's truly sick-making. And check out an "On This Day" website of any kind. It's as though only one country has any events, births or deaths. Hell, Lucille Ball's OK, and her birthday is interesting, but 3.5 million people have died in the Congo war in the past 3.3 years. Check it out. Is that not more important than some rich actor, or sports record?
However, it must be said about 99% of our brothers and sisters on this round rock have never used the Internet, and about half of them have never used a phone. That's only because of global inequity and injustice, and we must help it change. We, in our profression, can do a lot to alter the situation, largely by our awareness and use of words and images. Let's keep in touch with the real situation, please fellow blog owners and webmasters. I'm not directing this to any one person or group, just a tendency on the Internet. Thanks, and please pass it on if you agree.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 1:37 AM | Permalink
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home