Post by daubush35 on Nov 16, 2011 22:41:54 GMT -5
Since its inception among the public in the mid–90’s, Americans have become more and more attached to the Internet. With many needs and wants, people find the use of the Internet to their advantage. Communication became less difficult and more efficient with the invention of e-mail. Since then, many social networking and blogging websites have been created for users to keep track of their friends and/or other people. In these websites, users tend to post information that some would consider private or just plain unnecessary. It is almost as though American Citizens voluntarily, but unintentionally, volunteer to revisit the McCarthy era where their citizen rights can be used against them. Today’s communicative technology diminishes the American Citizen’s rights to privacy and freedom of speech by presenting his or her information to the rest of world by with his or her own consent.
The Internet brings many advantages to America’s way of life in the modern world. It allows citizens to communicate with others instantaneously from various distances as well as keep track of what is occurring in America and the world in the present day. Businesses also profit from the use of the Internet as well; businesses use the Internet to advertise and sell their products online directly to their customers without needing to have a brick and mortar business. The disadvantages however prove to impale American rights in a certain way. Online social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc allow people to stay in touch with friends or meet new ones at a their own risk. Many choose to ignore the risks taken or take them blindly as they display their information and conversations for all to see online. This information can be used against them if discovered with the wrong intentions. Many Americans have lost jobs or have been rejected from them just by the content of their online profiles. Not only does this apply to adults, but the youth as well. There have been a number of incidents where a student’s Facebook or MySpace page has negatively affected his or her college application. In the worst-case scenario, students can be rejected from Colleges or other institutions not because their applications are flawed, but for the content on their Facebook or MySpace pages. Whatever material people post on the Internet is considered freedom of speech as long as it does not directly assault others in a manner that can lead to violent action or any damage to them. However, by conforming to this modern-age communicative network and technology, people place themselves in positions that can lead to detrimental disasters.
In the McCarthy Era, artists, musicians, writers, and many liberals feared to express themselves through their freedom of speech because what they said could and would have been used against them by Joseph McCarthy himself. Joseph McCarthy blacklisted those who spoke out against him, the government, or the country by accusing them of Soviet/Communist actions or beliefs. In today’s America, a very similar situation is occurring where people’s online networking profiles are used against them. Does America want its citizens to conform to this online network profiling in order to further establish control over their actions? It almost seems as though Big Brother is once more casting his eyes upon his people in an attempt to make better his America.
Word Count: 557
The Internet brings many advantages to America’s way of life in the modern world. It allows citizens to communicate with others instantaneously from various distances as well as keep track of what is occurring in America and the world in the present day. Businesses also profit from the use of the Internet as well; businesses use the Internet to advertise and sell their products online directly to their customers without needing to have a brick and mortar business. The disadvantages however prove to impale American rights in a certain way. Online social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc allow people to stay in touch with friends or meet new ones at a their own risk. Many choose to ignore the risks taken or take them blindly as they display their information and conversations for all to see online. This information can be used against them if discovered with the wrong intentions. Many Americans have lost jobs or have been rejected from them just by the content of their online profiles. Not only does this apply to adults, but the youth as well. There have been a number of incidents where a student’s Facebook or MySpace page has negatively affected his or her college application. In the worst-case scenario, students can be rejected from Colleges or other institutions not because their applications are flawed, but for the content on their Facebook or MySpace pages. Whatever material people post on the Internet is considered freedom of speech as long as it does not directly assault others in a manner that can lead to violent action or any damage to them. However, by conforming to this modern-age communicative network and technology, people place themselves in positions that can lead to detrimental disasters.
In the McCarthy Era, artists, musicians, writers, and many liberals feared to express themselves through their freedom of speech because what they said could and would have been used against them by Joseph McCarthy himself. Joseph McCarthy blacklisted those who spoke out against him, the government, or the country by accusing them of Soviet/Communist actions or beliefs. In today’s America, a very similar situation is occurring where people’s online networking profiles are used against them. Does America want its citizens to conform to this online network profiling in order to further establish control over their actions? It almost seems as though Big Brother is once more casting his eyes upon his people in an attempt to make better his America.
Word Count: 557