http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/cool-it/ITs-carbon-footprint/Facebook/
I actually love the video, and I do support alternative energy. But at the same time, "picking up" on Facebook is not what would really change the world, because the half a million supporters of the campaign like the little cute boy and the funny story board more than the cause itself. And if Facebook does unfriend coal in the end, you will still have the daily oil spill in Nigeria that is rarely mentioned anywhere. I know that we can argue saying that it's better to start somewhere. And it is smart to start with Facebook, since you get around 620,000 supporters after one week only of launching the campaign. I just hope that Greenpeace will be able to use this visibility to raise awareness to other environmental issues. And I hope that out of the half a million "likers" of the video, real supporters who can bring a change to the world would emerge.
9.24.2010
9.22.2010
Facebook and blackmail
Don't get me wrong, I do like facebook. No, not because it helps me bond with my old friends from school. And no, not because it helps me keep in touch with family who are spread in different corners in the world. Mostly, and yes I admit it, and no don't pretend you're better than this, because of GOSSIP. Facebook is a gossip space without the incriminating part. Let's imagine this situation: You're sitting down in your living room, reading a book, the hero of the book reminds you of an X person. You wonder what happened to this person now. No need to call a common old friend (that you don't really like, but what can you say, curiosity is a real problem!) and engage in mundane conversation to open up the topic of X. No need to wonder for a long time! You facebook X, find X, add X, and have all the info you need to know. Of course it doesn't change your life. of course it doesn't add anything to you, and no your social network is not really worth dollars, and your connections can never be really useful when you need them, so don't fool yourself. If you're lucky, X could be interested in playing Farmville and could earn you lots of money (or eggs and milk, or whatever you earn in that game), VIRTUALLY.. No more no less..
But, nevertheless, facebook is becoming more and more a blackmail tool. "If you like your mom, press like, and join", so if you don't like this group and if you don't join then it means you don't like your mom! How awful you are! Of course, you can pretend not to see these type of news feeds! But eventually your mom will find this group and will share it with you, and then let me know how you will get out of it!
But sometimes, you can outsmart online blackmail. Your third cousin gets married you have to say congratulations even if her husband looks like a total looser, and even if you never really had a good relationship with her. Then she gets a child and she posts his pictures. You pretend not to see the pictures. Then she tags you in the album! Escape that! So, as a strike back, you comment: "Oh, what a cute baby, he looks just like his father!" Your mom calls you and asks you to delete the comment because the father is obviously ugly, and your comment is just causing more problems between the families.. In order to avoid further obligations from your cousin and further undesired contact you keep your comment. But of course you remain friends on facebook!
And then of course, you have the status of husband week, mother week, sister week, friend week, cat week, neighbor week, Boyfriend week, best friend week. Ironically no wife week, no brother week, no father week.. No comment there! Of course you have a news feed saying that 46 friends changed their status into this, or more, you try not to cave in, you feel guilty.. And sometimes you just say: what the hell, it's just a status, i can be all mushy mushy sometimes!
As for the bra color status! Yeah I'm sure it raised a lot of awareness! Well at least all of your friends who are on your facebook list are now AWARE of at least one bra color you have, exception goes for the ladies who answered "none".. But I agree, we had no choice, if we failed the cause, who would have supported it? Da!
But, nevertheless, facebook is becoming more and more a blackmail tool. "If you like your mom, press like, and join", so if you don't like this group and if you don't join then it means you don't like your mom! How awful you are! Of course, you can pretend not to see these type of news feeds! But eventually your mom will find this group and will share it with you, and then let me know how you will get out of it!
But sometimes, you can outsmart online blackmail. Your third cousin gets married you have to say congratulations even if her husband looks like a total looser, and even if you never really had a good relationship with her. Then she gets a child and she posts his pictures. You pretend not to see the pictures. Then she tags you in the album! Escape that! So, as a strike back, you comment: "Oh, what a cute baby, he looks just like his father!" Your mom calls you and asks you to delete the comment because the father is obviously ugly, and your comment is just causing more problems between the families.. In order to avoid further obligations from your cousin and further undesired contact you keep your comment. But of course you remain friends on facebook!
And then of course, you have the status of husband week, mother week, sister week, friend week, cat week, neighbor week, Boyfriend week, best friend week. Ironically no wife week, no brother week, no father week.. No comment there! Of course you have a news feed saying that 46 friends changed their status into this, or more, you try not to cave in, you feel guilty.. And sometimes you just say: what the hell, it's just a status, i can be all mushy mushy sometimes!
As for the bra color status! Yeah I'm sure it raised a lot of awareness! Well at least all of your friends who are on your facebook list are now AWARE of at least one bra color you have, exception goes for the ladies who answered "none".. But I agree, we had no choice, if we failed the cause, who would have supported it? Da!
9.20.2010
9.02.2010
So you think you can blog?
During my childhood I always heard this expression "shhhh, walls have ears". And so, several political topics were banned from discussion even in the privacy of our living room. But I was never influenced by this paranoia, and I was never convinced that I could be persecuted for asking questions inside my house, or expressing my opinions. And so I grew up on the idea that the previous generation suffered from the civil war and that they are stuck on practices long dead before the end of the war.
So I blog normally, it's true I rarely have political posts, but it's not by fear. But I respect all kinds of blogs. It's just like a graffiti wall where people express themselves. Some in the hope of a change, other in the hope of touching a life, many simply by need of expression. Most of us are persecuted by our social environment. A lot of us don't find someone around who could be interested in some topic, or cause. So we blog, because we know that someone might share our interest, our fear, our hope.
I read today about Tal el Molohi. A 19 years old girl imprisoned last year for blogging in Syria. I was intrigued to know what did she write to deserve this sentence. So I looked for her blog. I don't know which is more shameful: imprisoning a student for blogging in general, or imprisoning her for what she wrote.
http://latterstal.blogspot.com/
http://palestinianvillages.blogspot.com/
http://talmallohi.blogspot.com/
I guess this is just a more modern way to create paranoia among citizens, for the newer generations who think they can talk! Just another way to teach people that the world may have stepped into a new century, but in this part of the world, the system is the only one to decide when minds can progress.
...
1 minute of silence is in order..
N.B: several bloggers are imprisoned around the world in almost every totalitarian regime. Unfortunately, in the Arab world we suffer from this injustice in almost all of our countries.
So I blog normally, it's true I rarely have political posts, but it's not by fear. But I respect all kinds of blogs. It's just like a graffiti wall where people express themselves. Some in the hope of a change, other in the hope of touching a life, many simply by need of expression. Most of us are persecuted by our social environment. A lot of us don't find someone around who could be interested in some topic, or cause. So we blog, because we know that someone might share our interest, our fear, our hope.
I read today about Tal el Molohi. A 19 years old girl imprisoned last year for blogging in Syria. I was intrigued to know what did she write to deserve this sentence. So I looked for her blog. I don't know which is more shameful: imprisoning a student for blogging in general, or imprisoning her for what she wrote.
http://latterstal.blogspot.com/
http://palestinianvillages.blogspot.com/
http://talmallohi.blogspot.com/
I guess this is just a more modern way to create paranoia among citizens, for the newer generations who think they can talk! Just another way to teach people that the world may have stepped into a new century, but in this part of the world, the system is the only one to decide when minds can progress.
...
1 minute of silence is in order..
N.B: several bloggers are imprisoned around the world in almost every totalitarian regime. Unfortunately, in the Arab world we suffer from this injustice in almost all of our countries.
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