I have said from Day 1 that the Internet is going to change the demographics of the world. The net has had a profound affect on countries like South Korea they are the most connected and informed nation in the world. Know weblogs is transforming the Net Savvy youth of Iran.
They are the future leaders of Iran and there thoughts and ideology will be passed to there children. It may not solve all of the Issues Iran faces but it is refreshing to see the youth of Iran stand up and making the types of demands they are making.
Change will not come without a price as the National News networks are already reporting vicious crackdowns by police in Iran and individuals are getting arrested. I hope they continue to take there fight to the net and the streets and hopefully the government will not be able to keep up.
If the United States Government or Action Groups could get there act together and build software tools that will help repressed people circumvent governmental blocking of sites like China and Iran does these young adults and those demanding change would be able to continue to communicate and speak out.
Now I do not read Arabic but I would be very curious to see translations of some of these web sites. But I imagine like anything else in this world there are probably some Weblogs originating from that country that would make most Americans shiver. For every on of those that cry for democracy and relief from heavy handed religious zealots are those that are true extremist. Time will tell I only hope that the youth of today can continue to educate themselves outside of the confines of governmental propaganda. [Ars Technica]
The country where govermental propaganda ist most active and sucessful ist the United States. The Iraq war just made this very obvious. Forget about that “we perfect people in our perfect society will show those poor morons how it works” attidude. Fortunatly, the internet works in all directions and information also flows to US citicens. But the facts have to be actively searched for, they need to be collected and checked carefully, because there is also propaganda in the web. But in contrast to people in truely oppressed counties , many US citizens seem to be not interested in international views. Obtaining the truth is still a matter of a persons will and just supported as well as sometimes restricted by technology.