It’s a tricky thing with the international users. While it’s true they haven’t got any representation in US government, they certainly have just as much at stake in keeping these sites running without censorship. Perhaps more, since the politicians seem to be emphasizing the threat of “foreign websites” in their talking points about SOPA/PIPA.

Maybe these users should be the most enthusiastic “slactivists” (to use Malcolm Gladwell’s term). They should be the ones bothering us Americans to go call our representatives! And I’m sure that’s happened a lot in the last few days.

I’m just really conflicted about how readily we collectively meme-ify any old thing online, so long as it can make us chuckle. Even when it’s at the expense of those who we should be reaching out to in solidarity. The internet had a good showing today, activism-wise, but I think us rank-and-file users could do better.

• Writing to something that they’re an idiot is never helpful. It’s really sad to a bunch of adults ragging on a Scottish teenager. https://twitter.com/#!/JohnHabashi/status/159712733623885825

• A lot of the people expressing being retweeted are Scottish teenagers. No, not really, but many are from outside the US, or are teenagers, or both. Telling a Briton to contact their Senators is counterproductive. Non-Americans could rightly be annoyed at a local protest messing with their Internet. It’s not surprising at all that teenagers don’t care about some law and don’t want to read a bunch of boring stuff. The wikipedia “learn more” page does a terrible job compressing the information into something easily comprehensible. Instead, it goes on at length with somewhat defensive paragraphs about the blackout. The page should be targeted at the visitor who has never heard of SOPA, not an editor-level user who is concerned about this new political tack.

• Some of the retweets come from people who are being ironic, or are streaming a bunch of tweets about SOPA, one of which makes them look stupid out of context.

• Some of the people who were retweeted have turned around and retweeted the productive comments they’re receiving.

• A number of the comments are just expressions of disgust or annoyance, but in the context of herpderpedia, they make the tweeter look stupid. E.g. https://twitter.com/#!/JosephSprauer/status/159747980629516291

• A lot of people use twitter to ask what’s going on. It’s a little hypocritical for the techy world to share xkcd earthquake comics, and then condemn people who go on twitter to ask their friends what’s going on. A lot of the tweets are coming from smart and no-too-smart phones, which means that people are seeing wikipedia (maybe in trending topics) and then just asking what’s up based on a bunch of half-truths. That’s kind of a smart way to use twitter, actually.

And I think that process leaves me more open to hearing about a, b, c even if I may be skeptical at the outset. I like having conversations with people who I disagree with, although the opportunities are less frequent.

In the Chinese factory example, there’s a good six year span from when I saw the Burtynsky film, to a year ago when I had this one memorable conversation with Jon Morley about Tim Cook, to these stories about Apple’s labor practices gaining prominence in the last few days. I guess it takes time to piece together a sense of understanding things, and that sense feels kind of illusory the more you look into a subject.

I guess what I’m saying is this attentiveness to how you get information takes energy and time, but it’s worthwhile. Important, even.

First I should say that I really like the return to posts that have more substance and thought behind them. It gives me a much better idea on what moves you and what your thoughts are than just the hyperlink format.

On this topic I have a lot of thoughts. I agree with most of what you’ve said regarding it being our responsibility as the consumer of information to take in a variety of sources (which, if all news sources were independently researched (which is often hard to determine on the internet) would be a good way to triangulating the truth). The thing that I wonder about the most, which you’ve touched on in your post, is how it works if people rely increasingly on information sources that already cohere with their bias and world outlook.

For instance, I may subscribe to x RSS feed, or read y newspaper, or (for the sake of argument) follow z person on twitter all because I have found that in the past these sources follow up on the kinds of issues that I am most interested. When I later speak with someone of a completely different bias (perhaps more conservative), it’s as though we’re unable to even agree on the facts of a given situation because my sources have been reporting on x,y,z aspects of a given issue and the other person’s sources have been focusing on a,b,c. In this example it’s not even required that there is a difference in the veracity of either side. It’s possible for all entities to be accurate in what they’re covering, but all covering the story from different ways of looking at it that require different emphasis in their writing.

I worry that as traditional journalism disappears (or morphs or whatever), we’re in this time where authenticity is difficult to determine, so we’re almost more prone to follow the sources that seem on their face to be the most accurate to us, which is not a very thorough calculation (at least for me). If everyone is doing this, I worry that we end up with several segmented narratives on any given issue and it makes discussion or debate of the issues more difficult.

I’m not sure what the solution is, but I can’t see average people (myself included) scouring the internet on every issue to find out the exact facts, or even to find out which sources in the ever-changing sea of sources are the most reliable.

There were no such thing as Palestinians. When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria before the First World War, and then it was a Palestine including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist.” As quoted in Sunday Times (15 June 1969), also in The Washington Post (16 June 1969)

Few but the most fevered minds of Israeli right wing will claim any such thing today. Mr. Newt is living in the past, that he is considered a credible presidential candidate is a a damning statement on the party he seeks to lead, and the republic as a whole.

What I mean by confusing high school and college is that barely any 17-year olds of any group attend college, as the great majority still attend high school.

See: http://www.census.gov/hhes/school/

You can say that same fact about any sizable group in America (whites, asians, left-handed people), because they confused college and high-school.

It is technically true, but misleading.

For more information about comparing prisoners to college students: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/young_black_males_headed_for_e_1.html

More importantly, the object of the Occupy movment isn’t about occupying a stretch of ground, but about changing the nature of how we do things. I hope we don’t let people who have their adrenaline spiked by confrontation sidetrack an unprecedented, collaborative, brainstorming movement.

“Control”"out of control? Ingroup, outgroup? Line that some people at fellowship of reconciliation is self defense vs. clearly intentional aggression. Always remember don’t respond impulsively or reactively unless self-protective action is necessary. Well thought out, even practiced responses lay a groundwork for actual responses in high pressure situations (first aid, contingency planning training). Remember, water, good food, vitamins (stress multis, etc.), R&R when you can get it (trauma program from war ravaged gaza anyone can do at [removed url] for PTSD, body/mind specific nutrition for stress naturopathic doctors), charged batteries, enough film, extra clothes (backpack, fanny pack), situation specific transportation alternatives, portable gear to 140 pounds (how to move), How to decide what to carry, what to store (secure convergence centers-mobile), personal hygiene stuff (remember menstrual sponges?), prepare to adapt decisions to changing situations, I know I forgot something. . . .

Oakland should definitely be a rallying point. I guess it’s a fine line between nonviolent confrontation and escalating a situation so it gets out of control. But yeah, “out of control” will surely attract more media attention.

I’m no Gandhi, but an avid sideliner in need of headlines for the slow revolution.