UNInvolved in the Internet

This past week, the UN met to discuss a potential treaty. This treaty would give the governments and the International Telecom Union more control over the internet. However, as explained in this article, the treaty failed to be signed by numerous governments. The  US refused, saying that "The internet has given the world unimaginable economic and social benefit during these past 24 years. All without UN regulation." The US delegates argued that the UN intervention was unnecessary. Governmental control of the Internet would also be harmful. The internet, as it stands now, is free and uncontrolled by any authority. Laws still apply to those who use the internet, but other aspects, such as speech are unabated. Handing over this freedom to the government would  go against the very freedom the US is built upon. 

On top of this, most of these meetings were held "behind closed doors." This means that the meetings were closed off to the public or anyone else who would have anything to say about the treaty. This undemocratic way of going about the treaty seems to  indicate that the UN would try to regulate the Internet in a similar fashion.

What are your thoughts? Do you think that the government should have any control over the Internet? Is there any way for governments to regulate the Internet without overstepping their bounds? Post your thoughts in the comments. 

Ad Infinitum

During a visit to the Internet, I came across a photo album depicting Chinese factory workers and the toys they make. Jakey Witz also made a post about some of the photos. As I was looking through the album, I found one picture that I thought encompassed the conditions in the factories quite well. 

The thing about this particular photo that struck me was the repetition. Almost every worked is dressed the same: they all wear the same hats and shirt. The only difference is the colors of two of the workers. The items they are working on are also mostly the same. I counted eight bins filled with identical toys. It seems like the entire factory looks like this. The line of tables goes far  into the distance, seemingly forever. Or at least to the back wall. On the left and right, you can see other long tables, with more workers in the same uniform, all probably working on similar toys. 
These workers probably sit there almost all day, performing the same action on the same toy for however long it is in production. And that length of production depends on us. As long as we keep buying the toys, they keep making them. This cycle will continue infinitely until we change something. How do you think we can bring that change? Do you have any other thoughts about these factories? Post your comments below. 

Justification

After the class discussions,  I decided to look into the Downing Street Memo. While reading through it, I came across a line that seemed to fit the narrative of the Iraq war quite well. The original text from the memo can be found here.  
The line that caught my attention went as such: "Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran." Hold on, Saddam wasn't threatening people? But this ins't what the government told us. They said that he could use them on us (and other), and they're admitting that this isn't the case? Furthermore, Iraq's weapons capabilities were less than North Korea's? I don't know what North Korea had at the time, but I remember their failed nuclear test back in April. Given their current position, I don't see any way that North Korea could have WMDs years before that. If Iraq had less capability than North Korea, I don't see any problem. 
I don't think that the narrative the government gave us was fair. The whole conflict turned up no WMDs, yet we were told that there were. What do you think about this? And what do you think could be done to stop this in the future? Post your thoughts below. 

Black Wednesday

This past Wednesday, I happened to pass a Best Buy and saw something I didn't expect. There were people already camped out in front of the store. I found it amazing that people would miss spending Thanksgiving with their families to instead wait on the street to buy a TV or something. It seems like they value savings over their own family. I only saw this in one place, but I imagine that people were doing the same thing across the US.
I think that a lot of people's eagerness to skip a holiday to shop comes from the hype we get about it. For weeks before Thanksgiving, we hear about upcoming sales from all sorts of stores. Even after Black Friday, I still heard ads about extended sales. Everyone seems to be pushing people to go out and shop. 
What does this say about us? To me, stores seem to be using holidays to capitalize, and people seem to be responding to that. However, I think that people are responding too well to this. Holidays become commercial shopping events. I think that this commercialization has shifted people's values.
Personally, I don't think that this shift is very good. People holding sales and savings higher than their families isn't a good thing. I'm not saying people shouldn't shop and be frugal, but there is a point where it gets to be too much. What do you think? Post your thoughts below. 

Foreign Policies

Over the past week, Mr. Bolos posed the question of whether terrorist groups and the like were really opposed to our freedoms, or our involvement in their countries. I was thinking about this question when I came across this video. In it, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks about the world's view of the struggle with Palestine. 

Around :38, the Prime Minister says how easily America is moved. What he means is that he can attack Palestine, and most people won't question it because they support Israel. While it may not be true that all of America will side with him, he has a valid point. According to this document, "Israel... receives approximately 60% of all U.S. Foreign Military Financing."

I really don't like this situation. I don't understand why we are funding this conflict to the point where we can be relied on for unwavering support. Netanyahu's attitude seems to make him think that he can do anything because the US will back him no matter what. Personally, I find the  conflict unnecessary, and I don't see reason to be involved. What are your thought about this? What are your reactions to Natanyahu's words? Do you support American support in this war? Post your comments below.

Predicting Paths

I thought that this last week's discussions about the elections were very interesting. One thing that really stuck with me was how the media tried to make this election seem close when it wasn't. 
I went back to the New York Times results page and clicked on a few things that we didn't look at in class. One of these things was the Scenarios tab. I posted a picture below for convenience. 

Despite the media's efforts to make this race seem close, Obama had a clear advantage. All Obama had to do was win two other the listed states, and he won. Furthermore, Obama had over 5 times as many ways to win as Romney did. There is a very clear difference between the likeliness of the outcomes. This was no where close. Yet numerous sources tried to convince us that either could win. Why? Probably to keep us interested in what they were saying. 

I don't think that this type of behavior is appropriate. While some people would be able to distinguish between facts and fabrication, most others can't. I would like to believe that news sources are being honest and providing facts. However, this clearly isn't always the case. 

Enough of my opinion, what do you think? Should news sources be able to skew results? Post your thoughts in the comments below. 

Rough Draft

In the Vietnam presentation, we learned that the government never formally declared war. Regardless, many people were drafted to go fight. Also during the presentation, we talked about what we would do to protect our rights. For instance, some people said they would burn their draft cards, while others would not. However, I had a different though about the draft situation.  How many of us would actually go fight?

Personally,  I wouldn't. I'm not saying I'd go and burn my draft card, but I would find some other way to get out. I understand that the people who said that hypothetically burned their draft cards would not go, but what about the others? Would you go fight a war you had no say in? Would you go to fight a war that the US wasn't even formally involved in? I'm interested to see what you think. Post your thoughts in the comments below.