"Think Again: The Internet" is a good read in Foreign Policy magazine which argues that the Web isn't as earth-shattering as it is cracked up to be. It hasn't ushered in a new era of freedom, political activism and perpetual peace and isn't likely to anytome soon:
As with any budding love affair, we wanted to believe our newfound object of fascination could change the world. The Internet was lauded as the ultimate tool to foster tolerance, destroy nationalism, and transform the planet into one great wired global village.
[. . .]
Well, the Internet as we know it has now been around for two decades, and it has certainly been transformative. The amount of goods and services available online is staggering.
[. . .]
But just as earlier generations were disappointed to see that neither the telegraph nor the radio delivered on the world-changing promises made by their most ardent cheerleaders, we haven't seen an Internet-powered rise in global peace, love, and liberty.
And we're not likely to. Many of the transnational networks fostered by the Internet arguably worsen -- rather than improve -- the world as we know it.
The comparison to telegraph and radio is revealing, and throwing in TV would be apt, too. The Internet is just another tool with which we can do good or evil, not a magic
