my *moment of zen*

Last session we had this discussion about whether the internet is a public good or a private good.
I think to answer this question is very demanding. First of all one needs to define what makes a good a public good. Applying this definition to the internet it becomes obvious that the internet does not fit the term "public good". It is excludable and it exists a high level of inequity concerning its use. Of course, here in Germany nearly everyone has access to the internet. But in Third World countries the percentage of people having access to the World Wide Web is very low. Experts claim that the digital divide has never been that stark.
So the question posed should rather be "Will the internet ever be a public good?"
I´d claim that as long as there exist social disparities between the West and the underdeveloped countries there is no chance to make the internet available to everyone. Furthermore, we have to keep in mind that there are countries who might be able to afford the digitilization of their societies but refuse it because of political purposes. Think for example of the Chinese government which blocks certain websites because of their content. So, for me a world with internet access for everyone is comparable to a world where all people live in peace - it is merely a wish.

the ignorant german

Are you sometimes grateful that you live in a country where you can move freely, speak with whom you want to speak, believe in what you want to believe and where you can criticize the government without the fear of being send to prison or even get tortured for it?
Well, I am - especially when I am reminded that there exist far too many people in the world who live in a dictatorship or so and do not have any rights at all - who are severely oppressed or prosecuted or have to starve each day because their government does not care about them.
Yet it seems as if not everyone here in Germany is clear about how lucky he or she should be to live in a civilized country that respects human rights.

A friend of mine works voluntarily for amnesty international. Last week she and her fellow members had a booth at our campus to inform the students about human rights and how amnesty champions them.

Afterwards she told me that the majority of those who stopped and were eager to get to know more about that topic were exchange students from Asian or African countries. A lot of the German students just walked by or even asked her why human rights should concern them. It really striked me how ignorant and self-centered some people are. Their attitude towards such issues is "okay, it´s not me who suffers so why should I care??!!" It is these people who take their situation for granted. Half a year in China, Cuba or North Korea would definetely change their minds. All of a sudden they would learn to appreciate what a great life they are able to lead. In my opinion it is very sad that some people do only see misery if they experienced it themselves - that they need to be confronted directly with it in order to be willing face such circumstances. Isn´t it enough to watch the news or read the papers?

my *moment of zen*

Last session it was said that our behaviour is heavily influenced by the media especially by television. I instantly remembered that I once read an book about mass media in which the author claimed that nowadays only 20 % of our personal knowlegde derives from our own experience - the majority is imparted to us by the media. That is quite shocking, isn´t it? So I asked myself
Why are we so easily influenced by all the mass media?

And I found an answer.

Although the author isn´t exclusively focusing on the mass media, I think he provides an explanation that makes sense - at least in my opinion. Day after day the media is bombarding us with stereotypes. For example according to the media only well-shaped blond women are the ones admired by men. So we indirectly receive the message that we have to be conform with these stereotypes or otherwise risk to become outcasts. And so we adopt to what the mass media is telling us. In the end we are reduced to puppets of the mass media which really scares me.

So my suggestion is that we should learn to appreciate our individuality!

"objectivity" in the media of the US

Well, after thousands of minutes of thinking about an adequate topic to start my blog with I decided to dedicate this first post to the often-stated objectivity in journalism especially in US journalism. I remember that last semester I learned in one of my journalism seminars that objectivity is one of the most important features to describe the north-atlantic model of journalism (which includes Great Britain, Canada, Ireland and of course as the stereotype of this model the US). As I am convinced that no journalist on earth can ever be totally objective (there is always a little piece of a hidden opinion somewhere in an article, even if it is only a jugmental word) I never believed that of all journalists the US ones should be capable of that. Since last week I finally have evidence that I was right. In one of my journalism seminars we read texts about how some news channels, radio stations and news papers treated Obama during the election campaign. They called him a marxist, a socialist, a fascist and drew connections between him and a "former-terrorist" called Bill Ayers. Everything without backing up their stories with hard facts to prove their claims. Later as I talked to some students from the US it turned out that these media are regarded as conservative, that is to say supporting the Republicans and that there exist liberal media as well. So to me it seems as if the US media system is blatantly subjective. They can even insult politicians without being charged. I´d claim that in Germany a story comparing Angela Merkel to a terrorist or to a fascist would never be published. And if they would the journalist is very likely to face a trial - but I do not want to speculate too much. I think I do have to investigate a little further...
As a start I found a webpage underlining my point that there does not exist anything like objectivity in journalism

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~taflinge/mythobj.html