One reason I want so badly to get the idea of "Open Source Politics" out to a mass audience is its usefulness in creating understanding a host of issues.
Take education for instance.
The greatest hindrance toward improving education today is that we’ve made the Internet illegal in schools. In order to gain federal funds, schools must install filters. These filters deliver only a "Chinese Internet" experience, not the real Internet. Teachers must fight through their district bureaucracy to get individual sites unblocked. So they don’t. And as a result, the Internet is unused.
Now, in the name of fighting pedophiles (terrorism, pedophiles, and drugs are the best friends ignorance ever had) they seek to tighten these restrictions further through HR 5319, the Deleting Online Predators Act. It’s aptly named, DOPA. Because it’s written by, for, and to dopes.
DOPA would, in effect, ban social networking sites from schools. And chat rooms. On the surface, not such a big deal. But add in the hundreds of thousands of sites already banned in all schools, and it’s easy to see why the bandwidth giving the Bells billions per year to deliver (through their E-Rate) is not being used.
An Open Source Politics has a simple answer for all of this:
Fear of the Internet is fear of knowledge.
Fear of knowledge is ignorance.
Ignorance is the Dark Ages.
We demand the Enlightenment.
Filters should be run locally, and the default should be letting sites
through, not blocking them. Restricting our kids to a Chinese Internet
is not educating them. Nor is it protecting them. It’s imprisoning them.
We demand, instead the Enlightenment. We demand America. Nothing known is foreign to me. Train our children to know, to understand, and to use this medium, so they may advance into the future.
But without a comprehensive political philosophy, without political
Myths and Values that embrace this and other issues, such a stance has
no chance in today’s America. That’s why I write so often about Open
Source Politics. That’s why it’s important.
Both to you, and to your kids.
I was having a related discussion this very morning with a college. They were concerned that enabling easy Internet access in the classroom is an open invitation for students to surf the web instead of paying attention to the teacher. I pointed out to them that there is nothing they can really do to stop this because within 2 years 90% of cell phones will have the capability to all kinds of fun online stuff, independant of any school provided connection. My advice is that they might as well embrace the coming changes and figure out how to deal with them rather than hiding their heads in the sand and hoping progress will suddenly stop. You can’t fight the future.
I was having a related discussion this very morning with a college. They were concerned that enabling easy Internet access in the classroom is an open invitation for students to surf the web instead of paying attention to the teacher. I pointed out to them that there is nothing they can really do to stop this because within 2 years 90% of cell phones will have the capability to all kinds of fun online stuff, independant of any school provided connection. My advice is that they might as well embrace the coming changes and figure out how to deal with them rather than hiding their heads in the sand and hoping progress will suddenly stop. You can’t fight the future.
At the risk of stating the obvious, there are some places that children do not belong, some places that are not safe for children, and the Internet is one of them. Keeping kids off the net solves the problem.
There is no evidence that shows children cannot learn from books and teachers. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that if they spent more time reading books and listening to their teachers they would learn more, faster.
At the risk of stating the obvious, there are some places that children do not belong, some places that are not safe for children, and the Internet is one of them. Keeping kids off the net solves the problem.
There is no evidence that shows children cannot learn from books and teachers. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that if they spent more time reading books and listening to their teachers they would learn more, faster.
So anything is ok, as long as it is in a book? What minimum age are you requiring for Internet access? Will you need a learner’s permit, or is it just an age requirement?
So anything is ok, as long as it is in a book? What minimum age are you requiring for Internet access? Will you need a learner’s permit, or is it just an age requirement?