Zombie 2.0?

Global networking; welcome to the world, please watch your step.

Am I alone or part of one giant world of cables? In this weeks readings of globalization, we saw two heavy weights each give their opinion to this occasionally overly complicated phrase of Global Networking.

In one corner we have Lovink, whose video on YouTube that we looked at made me begin to feel sad and alone, I mean it was like some post-modern piece of bizarre art which you stare at and sort of get frustrated at. His view of Global Networking was rather pessimistic, yet in some cases well justified. The internet can be a dangerous place, isolating and if you find yourself in the wrong corner of the web, you might be in for some nasty surprises. Kind of like surfing YouTube on a Friday night and coming across ‘funny’ videos. I mean sure, the media does sort of control the planet, most of us like to think we’re independent creature’s, capable of resisting anything thrown at us but we’re often caught unaware of how well the media has us wrapped around their finger.

In the other corner we have Varnelis, I guess you could say the guy who sees the glass half full. The net is basically vital now, we’re stuck with it, you suddenly get a post apocalyptic situation where internet no longer exists and a lot of people will be crying. I’d say more people are prepared for a zombie apocalypse then a simple day when the internet suddenly goes down. Either way, global networking is vital socioeconomic situation of the world, without it we lose, plain and simple.

There are positives and negatives; we can become to conformed to this identity that certain sites try and mold us into. The media can be a powerful tool to control or free, but people have to remember that without the physical presence of a person, nothing can really be achieved.

An example I heard of this was of the KONY 2012 campaign. A huge, world recognized campaign, people signed petitions, clicked attending on Facebook events and discussed it among friend groups. One event that was to be held in New York city had thousands of people sign up to stick KONY posters everywhere, come the day of the event though, a disappointingly low amount of people actually showed. This is opposed to the ice bucket challenge, which is a brilliant cause, don’t get me wrong, but do people seem to be getting behind this more because they want to raise awareness, or because they know they’ll get their faces on the internet as opposed to the invisible faces of people fighting against the horror of KONY?