Some things never die

Our recent discussions in class, and topics covered in readings, talk about how the Internet, social networks and advanced technology are changing everything. It's almost romantic, the fetishization we've layed on Google, the unyielding belif we've placed on social networks. You'd almost think that these new institutions could make everything right.

But, some things remain. In our discussion of Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's competing YouTube videos, we really didn't challenge the latent sexism present in the way we, and the media at large, scrutinized the two. When Shirky writes about the online cell phone recovery saga in the first chapter of his book, even he has to address the race and class issues that cam into play in the story.

So, while the Internet is a totally new frontier, some of the same -isms we've been dealing with for centuries have seeped into the Web. We shouldn't blame the net for it. But we shouldn't act like these things still aren't there.