Just Reading…
I was just reading part of Lawrence Lessigs book Free Culture for my comm law paper, and what he says makes sense. My conclusion from his arguments: free speech will no longer take place in the traditional media. I mean, they are still free to say whatever they like, but TV, Radio, and Newspapers are no longer the open forum. The internet is where the open discussion of issues and ideas takes place. No control, no regulation, no laws or market structure to squash anyones voice. Indeed, the internet is where all of the important free speech is going to take place now. Old media is just an opiate for the masses. It’s a source of government messages, corporate interests, and uncontroversial, sterile content. Television is good for nothing other than entertainment now. That would be fine with me, except the masses of the american people are still enthralled by the corporate media, this creates a dilemma for the rest of us. Let’s not even consider if the internet is really an optimal architecture for the free exchange of ideas. Some would say it is unquestionably the best system for free speech, other might disagree. I’m not sure if it’s optimal, but it’s probably the best thing we have right now.