Why the Internet is America’s greatest weapon

http://gigaom.com/2011/07/04/why-the-internet-is-america%E2%80%99s-greatest-weapon/

by nextparadigms • 15 years ago

33 46 15 years ago

I was hoping this was an economics article. It is a politics article on protest organization. Me sad.

dreamux• 15 years ago

I think people are overcomplicating the issue, social media simply gives community to people who may have otherwise thought their ideals lacked popular support. This was previously done with outspoken radicals speaking to the masses, but is now accomplished with a general consensus of individuals.

Interestingly, I see the same effects promoting atheism instead of political change here in the west.

galactus• 15 years ago

It is a bit cynical to mention the role of the internet in the uprise against Mubarak as an example of the internet being "america's greatest weapon" given Mubarak's position as a longtime US ally.

cstavish• 15 years ago

Perhaps you mean "ironic"? If so, absolutely. Irony and hypocrisy are seldom divorced from US foreign policy.

astine• 15 years ago

"Cynical?" That seems like a strange word choice to me.

Either way, I agree that saying the Internet is somehow America's weapon, as if the US government was somehow the architect of these revolts or that they are specifically in the US's interest, seems to be a misnomer. Maybe the OP means 'America' as in the spirit of democracy which America represents, but it's been a long while since America was really the single shining beacon of democracy for the world (if it ever was.) The US government has, for a long time now, preferred alliances of convenience to alliances of ideology. I'm not even sure that this is a bad thing.

zeemonkee• 15 years ago

" I'm not even sure that this is a bad thing."

Actually, it's been a pretty awful thing and led the US to create enemies were none existed before. The alliance with the Mujehaddin in Afghanistan in the 80s is a good example.

(BTW as interesting a discussion as this is it really belongs in Reddit)

dean2• 15 years ago

What a strange title for this story "Why the Internet is America’s greatest weapon". It implies a lot about the mindset of the author. Clearly, the author still sees America as a shining beacon of democracy for the world, and believes that America should spread democracy everywhere it can.

Equally clearly, America does not act this way. While they are willing to send in the army to spread democracy in Iraq, and they are willing to send fighter jets to support the rebels in Libya, they are clearly reluctant to help the people of Syria, who also suffer under a brutal dictator.

To paraphrase Thomas Huxley, all it takes is one ugly fact to ruin a beautiful theory.

InclinedPlane2• 15 years ago

Syria and Libya are not comparable examples. Libya has a much smaller population (less than 1/3rd of Syria's), and Gaddafi's army is much smaller and less well armed than Assad's. More importantly Syria is known to have stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons, especially mustard and nerve gas.

If we were to set up a list of brutal dictatorships based on the order of which are most deserving of being toppled then likely North Korea would be on the top, perhaps even above Libya right now. However, the cost and sacrifice (in civilian lives as well) of such actions must be taken into account, and for both North Korea and Syria it's highly questionable whether that math adds up. We could overthrow North Korea or Libya's government if we desired. But without an imminent external threat the question remains whether it would be worth the hundreds or thousands of lives of american troops lost, and the perhaps tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands (in the case of North Korea) of innocent civilians that would die in the conflict.

dean2• 15 years ago

I agree with you. The cost in lives and treasure of mounting a military campaign against some of these dictatorships would be very high. And practically speaking, it's not necessarily worth it for America (as cold as that sounds).

On the other hand, some dictatorships are 'friendly' to America, and would never be considered for an invasion anyway.

But my point was more the mindset of the author, who appears to believe that America's goal really is to spread democracy around the world.

And in the case of Syria, American silence is deafening. Assad reportedly tortures even the children, and there is not a peep of protest from America, let alone a threat of military intervention.

guard-of-terra• 15 years ago

"More importantly Syria is known to have stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons, especially mustard and nerve gas." Therefore, we would conclude that having biological and chemical weapons is a viable defence strategy against US/NATO invasion or subversion.

Who knows: if Iraq actually did have some WMD, perhaps Hussein could still rune.

anamax• 15 years ago

> Equally clearly, America does not act this way.

Does not ALWAYS act that way.

However, while it's clear that America is far from perfect, it's unclear who, if anyone, is anywhere near as close. Suggestions? (Note - the answer has to have significant capacity. Otherwise I'll nominate some random church group in Texas. Come to think of it, random US church groups do more good than most countries.)

I note that whenever there's a natural disaster, the first thing that goes through everyone's mind is "How soon will the Americans show up?"

Until you've got something better, the appropriate response is "thank you".

cies• 15 years ago

tcp/ip was developed by the military in the first place, wasn't it?

a bit of a long term payoff, but now we have: a new battle field to rule :)

maeon3• 15 years ago

The power of the internet comes from anonymity, Eben Moglen talks about how the internet is going to lose what made it great when you are unable to connect to it without an authority tracking your every query, every click and every mouse rollover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gORNmfpD0ak

joelhaus• 15 years ago

Democratic forms of government are best represented by the internet.

Dictatorships are best represented by television.

The internet best reflects American values and therefore, poses all sorts of problems to dictatorships. E.g. organizing protests, consuming/producing non-approved messages and images, economic productivity gains.

It is a no-win perdicament for dictators unless they are willing to be completely totalitarian and hold back almost all economic progress for their nation. It makes one wonder if flooding a country with cheap smartphones combined with a satelite based network would be a better long-term tactic than sending in an Army.

The effectiveness of the internet in facilitating change truely does make it America's best weapon.

Why the Internet is America’s greatest weapon

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