:: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 ::

Not the great democratizer we thought it was?
In "The web won't topple tyranny", Joshua Kurlantzick writes that the Internet is better at spreading our vacuous pop culture than in disseminating the ideals of democracy.
[W]orld leaders, journalists, and political scientists who tout the Internet as a powerful force for political change are just as wrong as the dot-com enthusiasts who not so long ago believed the Web would completely transform business. While it's true that the Internet has proved itself able to disseminate pop culture in authoritarian nations--not only Laos, but China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere--to date, its political impact has been decidedly limited. It has yet to topple--or even seriously undermine--its first tyrannical regime. In fact, in some repressive countries the spread of the Internet actually may be helping dictatorships remain in power.

From The New Republic Online, via Arts & Letters Daily.

:: Andrew 09:17 + ::
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