Greatest Instability of 2006: America in the Information Age

My free subscription to TIME just sent me their best edition in a long, long time - it is full of socio-economic-political-technological stories of and from folks who were part of what was in, controversial, or rising in 06, or they just want to comment on it - such comments may disturb bloggers, like this one:

"Blogs often lead to such divisiveness that people end up caring more about clan membership than truth after a while."

While I hope comments made on this site are done in truth (as a true American liberal/progressive voice), I can't help but agree that the products we create and services we use to control the Information Age may cloud our ability to think rationally about the physical world we are building and protecting. It seems we create more ways to bicker and belong to a side or party than to an idea that we really think will work. We all end up being confused and not sure who or what is right or wrong. Our priorities become strange and our plans are put on hold.

Just think about open-source versus hacking.

Just think about what the Joint Chiefs of Staff think as compared to Bush.

Just think about how much data and money is transferred and made as a result of PayPal, Youtube, Google and Facebook, yet just as much data and money is transferred illegally.

Just think about how we want to support our military with the most high-tech weapons and "whatever it takes," but the Federal budget leaves no room for it.

Just think about the billions of dollars made by WalMart, hedge funds and Rupert Murdoch, and how it does not balance the growing crime and poverty in our communities.

Just think about all the citizen journalists out there and the rise of personal free speech thanks to the Internet, yet we still see the steady oppression of groups of people around the world.

Now quote this blog for once:

The Information Age has only proven to be entertainment - not a solution for our problems. I love the Internet, but it is not the only answer. We, without computers, offer much better solutions to our problems than signing up as a user to any site or member of a political party - if only everyone put as much energy and excitement into physical activism and change. Thanks TIME for a breather from the regular stuff - I was entertained, but now back to the regular programming.