A couple of op/ed pieces worth reading.
First, there’s
THIS INSIGHTFUL PIECE ON THE IMPACT INTERNET HAD ON THE 2004 ELECTION.
Its conclusion?
So what hath the blogosphere wrought? The left blogosphere has moved the Democrats off to the left, and the right blogosphere has undermined the credibility of the Republicans’ adversaries in Old Media. Both changes help Bush and the Republicans.
Then, there’s
THIS PIECE OF INTERNET-SAVVY JACK KELLY ON HOW "OUT OF IT" THE MSM IS.
As an MSM (if blog-friendly) journalist himself, he concludes:
The earth rumbles, and we think it’s our big feet, stomping the Lilliputians. But what if it’s an earthquake about to swallow us up?
Long live the new media!
Seriously, the internet is doing some really amazing things. If it wasn’t for the internet, I would have never discovered Catholic Answers and EWTN (where I first really heard the word of God), I would have never read Humanae Vitae and Evangelium Vitae, I would have never known about the supergenius that is Thomas Sowell, I would have never become pro-life, I would have never become a conservative.
Because of the blogosphere, the MSM is now being forced to be fairer and more balanced (although that doesn’t seem to be the case in Canada yet. We’re about 5-10 years behind you guys in that regard I’d say).
Steve Jobs said it best: TV is a place you go to when you want to turn off your brain, the interenet is a place you go to when you want to turn on your brain.
Of course, the internet is being used for a lot of evil too. It’s easy to lose yourself in cyberspace. It has also produced an entire generation of young men who are addicted to pornography. I have no doubt that it has severely accelerated the lowering of sexual mores in our society in the past 10 years that it has existed. We really need to do more to combat it.