Internet - platform for evil and good

It is undeniable that the internet has changed lives, on the smaller scale; if you need to know anything in an (almost) instant, there's no need to go to a library (ay?) phone a friend or ask the audience, but the most reliable source (sort of) is an extended, all encompassing version; asking an audience which comprises of millions or billions i.e. Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves etc. So what questions do you ask Google et al? Mundane but necessary things including directions, looking for jobs, comparing prices of big purchases and insurance, holidays.

But for me Google's best and worst invention is their sometimes ridiculous drop down suggestions, e.g. when I typed in Adam and Eve, one of their helpful suggestions was 'How did Adam and Eve make black people?' more racist suggestions I've found when typing in 'Why do black...' come up with 'Why do black people commit more crimes?' 'Why do black people have that black people smell?' 'Why do black people have big lips?' amongst other even more crude topics. I say best because it's good to know that whatever question you have asked has already been asked, but worst because it exposes just how stupid, ignorant and brain-dead apparently so many people are. You only have to look at the comments on any video on youtube to see how obsessed people are with race and being racist, for example, the tragic video of the two-year-old Chinese girl Yue Yue, run over and left to die served as an excuse for an American to launch a tirade on the entire Chinese race and to claim that this type of incident would never happen in the US as it is against American morals. We all also know the infamous video of the Malay student caught up in the London riots who was beaten and then robbed by people pretending to help him, somebody commented 'I felt so sorry for him but when I found out he was Muslim I then thought DIE BITCH DIE'.

I intended to write this as a counter to my previous doom and gloom blog but this is turning out differently... BUT on the upside, this particular victim had a twitter group set up for him to donate money and things to him whilst the Malay embassy was inundated with calls to help him out. All in all, this fund received £30,000, which he promptly donated to charity. In a cash-strapped era, this money was raised in a matter of days for one person! Not to mention, the people that came out to clean their streets after the havoc caused by the riots. So all faith in humanity is not lost! 

Furthermore, on a larger scale, it is an undeniable fact that the cheesily-named Arab spring would not have grown to the extent it has if not for the internet. The only region on the planet which did not even have pretend democracies finally had the chance on a wide scale to have their voice heard, and the world was actually interested. It was not conducted or coerced by the powers that be but actually by the people, their camera phones and the Libyan tweets that begged for a no-fly zone. Even in the countries which have very little internet access, we would never have known that people young and old are willing to demand for themselves what many of us around the world take for granted, which according to the last prophet of Islam is the greatest jihad (meaning struggle not war) 'speaking the truth to a dictator, even if you are killed for it'.

To conclude, the internet preserves that old chestnut that we all need to feel human - 'free speech' even if it means we have to be subjected to rants by loony hateful idiots, I would still say it's a worthwhile trade-off.

See also http://raraproductions.blogspot.com/ & http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/