Steve asks:
This is not directly, and perhaps only very
indirectly, internet/war
related. I had a very odd experience today giving a
guest lecture to
a group of undergraduate students in an introductory
course. We spoke
about the internet and its potential during the
war...or I should say
that I spoke about it, virtually to a person none of
them seemed to
want to talk about the war in any way, shape or
form... I'm wondering quite how to
account for the attitudes I encountered
today.
I think one reason is that it is being presented in the media as
a sporting/videogame spectacle with play by play action in which heros
are captured, bad guys surrender, and there are lots of exciting
explosions and cool machines. It's not about cities of a million
without electricity or water. It's not about suffering. It's like a
high-power episode of Survivor with a really big cast that's on 24
hours a day but doesn't have the angle of watching relationships
develop.
Personally, I feel so horrified by both the fact of it and by the
way it is being presented and discussed that I want to avoid the topic
just to keep from feeding the machine. I'll send my check to the
American Friends Service Committee, avoid tv and newspapers, and try
to be a positive influence on others. But I don't want to talk about
the war, and especially not in my classes.
That's me. But there's a couple of possible explanations for the
attitudes you've encountered.
--
Nancy Baym
http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym
Communication Studies, University of Kansas
102 Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org