I have been an avid fan of
the British rock band, Muse since 2007 and my love for them and their music
never wavered even after I have grown up quite a bit ever since. Whenever I am
bored, I would listen to their songs or Google the internet to keep myself
updated on their activities. I have found that there weren’t that many Muse
fans around me that I can share my interest with, so I go on the internet and
found a forum called ‘Muse Fans from Malaysia.’ I found so many new friends
with various backgrounds on this forum, and we chatted as if we’re old friends.
We formed a positive bond over our undying love for Muse and even went to their
concert in Singapore in 2009 together. Afterwards, small meet-ups were still
held and we kept on chatting with each other on the forum.
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This is an example of the
internet as a ‘Global Village’, a term first coined by communication theorist,
Marshall McLuhan. In his books such as The Gutenberg Galaxy: Making of
Typographic Man, he described available technologies made this big world
smaller and smaller through the vast inventory of information available and its
rapid transfer from one to another. Nowadays, the internet is what popped into
the mind when people talk about global village because it is now one of the
fastest and most used medium of communication and information sharing
throughout the entire world.
Now, when internet becomes
a global village, where people can ‘meet’ and talk with each other, hold
discussions and share information with each other, it is bound to create a
smaller group of people who shares common interests and thoughts. People
usually filter the information they received on the internet according to their
preferences and are attracted to like-mindedness. Cass Sunstein describes this
phenomenon as cyber balkanization. Cyber balkanization segregates people into
specific groups of common thinkers who have the tendency to be quite critical
of those who oppose their views.
Regrettably, the internet
holds a plethora of people who possess these characteristics of cyber
balkanization, taking their opinions to the extreme especially when political
issues are involved. One can find so many blogs, profile pages and forums
especially dedicated to politics with so many people forming groups of
discussion in it. The bad news is that most of it is one-sided and very hostile
in nature, so much so that searching for a politically neutral blog on the
internet is hard work.
It is more saddening when
the internet causes the people to be segregated according to their race and
ethnicity where an ethnic group bashes another group of different ethnicity.
This polarisation of groups surely dampens the government’s initiatives to form
a 1 Malaysia nation where the Chinese, Indians, Malays and the Bumiputeras be
known only Malaysians instead of their respective races. Despite that, it can
be said that everyone is at fault for this case and not just any one particular
side.
During the 13th
General Elections, the media including the internet exploded with so many
opinions, commentaries and discussions revolving around it. People were taking
sides and were desperately trying to influence others by using the internet
both to good use and also negatively. And then came the aftermath; a famous
mainstream newspaper wrote a front page headline that caused an uproar
throughout the nation. The internet was full of hostile bashings and
condemnations, sides were taken, and the nation divided. Personally, I think
that the effects still lingers on until now because I still find myself feeling
quite awkward and embarrassed with what had unfolded.
This could have been
prevented should the government took the reins on the freedom of expression in
this country. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad once said that the
freedom of the press is the same as other freedoms – it has its own boundaries,
its limits. There is no such thing as absolute freedom, and people need to
realize this and the government must take action upon it.
Apart from that, there are
so many keyboard warriors out there. They wrote so many and so bravely on the
internet but it stops just there. There are also those who claim themselves to
be citizen journalists but their lack of ethics in writing proved otherwise.
People must be educated that despite having bestowed with freedom of
expression, a privilege possessed by few, they need to limit themselves and
obey the ethics. If they keep on being ignorant, I am afraid that the
escalation will spiral out of control, hence causing major problems off the
internet that will affect the nation as a whole.
To put it simply, we are
living in a beautiful country which canvas is colourfully painted. We should
take a step back and try to admire and appreciate its beauty, even better if we
do that to each other regardless of our skin colours, interests and backgrounds.
No good will ever come if we keep on living with the selfish mind-set that ‘I
am me, and you are you’. No one and nothing is perfect, so stop being so judgemental
for it only reflects back to us and our integrity. We will be living with each
other for many, many more years to come from now so we might as well try to
make it a comfortable environment to live in. Just keep in mind that we live
such short lives and when we are gone, our future generations will take over
our place in this world. Do them a favour and leave them a place where everyone
is one and the same for that might just be one of the greatest heirlooms they
will ever inherit.
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