The thank you is for the internet. It is questionable whether I would have become aware enough to start living vegan without it. The horror depicted in a little video called Meet Your Meat that I watched...via the internet...smacked me hard enough to make me vow to avoid and/all "animal food" forever more. Would I ever have seen it without the internet? I don't know. Maybe...but it might have been years until I did...or maybe never.
There's a phrase that has been used in the past, information revolution, which somewhat describes what I'm attempting to specify in this post. The internet offers ease of access to viewpoints, knowledges, thinking, perspectives and ways of comprehending mother Earth and all her Earthlings that simply were almost impossible to have prior to the advent of the internet. This is such a profound thing that words are inadequate to describe it.
The internet has made that so much much easier and so much information easily accessible that it is indescribable. I've been thinking about this off and on for a few months now. What brought me to realize how revolutionary this internet thing is was my efforts to dive deeply into comprehending oppression of our sister/brother Earthlings.
At first much of that effort was focused on learning more about how we behaved toward those Earthlings we call animals. A couple of years ago I started trying to piece together how that oppressing of them related to how we human beings interacted with one another. The internet made that doable...without having to devote incredible amounts of time and effort to the task.
I think it was somewhat legitimate oftentimes to simply be ignorant about things prior to the internet. Access to information was harder. It still is hard for many...don't think that it isn't. But...access to information is infinitely easier for many more now than it was back then.
Because of the internet I've discovered concepts and ways of apprehending like the white racial frame...which is an attempt to specify how we white people distort and skew our perceptions and understandings of human beings. I've encountered the notion of Racism Without Racists...which again was made possible by having the internet. Because of the internet I can easily link to writings about those notions that allows readers of this blog to go and read the material themselves. Think of how difficult, if not impossible, such open access to information would have been without computers and the internet.
And...it's not just computers and the internet...it's a confluence of various technologies like cell phones and their ability to capture video of events and then the ease with which those recordings can be shared that has and is creating this phenomenal ability for access to information. Want to know what happens inside a factory farm or a slaughter house or or or. All of that can be easily found on the internet...I'm not linking to such atrocities here simply because it is too painful but you can go find videos of such dismal scenes...if you want.
Anyone with internet access can find interviews with such intellectuals as James Baldwin or they can find lectures by professors like Robin DiAngelo or Joy DeGruy. A full blown world university education is accessible because of the internet...and it is available to anyone who has a computer hooked up to the internet...or to anyone who can visit a library.
It has taken some time for the information base to build. Twenty years ago there wasn't nearly as much that had been converted to electronic format...the ease of recording wasn't available...and on and on. What's accessible has changed, it has grown and matured and the internet now is not the internet even of five years ago.
Along with information that can help us grow and access the efforts of the best of us, the internet also provides the opportunity for exposure to the efforts of the worst of us. You can find videos and writings by people who defend and support horror and oppression. It's all there...the best and the worst. It's exhilarating and stunningly awful simultaneously.
Charles Dickens wrote in the beginning of his book A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,....".
He wrote these words in 1859. I would suggest to you that the internet offers us the opportunity to be exposed to much of the best of humans and to the worst of humans on a scale that is unprecedented in the history of human beings.
Most especially it is unprecedented in terms of the ease with which anyone can access the viewpoints and comprehensions of those who are not considered to be members of the dominant human groups. These are the sources that offer profound opportunities for consciousness raising. If you aren't delving into their writing and thinking I fear you are likely continuing to be trapped in viewpoints limited by comprehending human society and behavior through the white racial lens, through the constrictions of the colonized mind.
The internet offers opportunities to expand and deepen your understanding...use it...and consider how very remarkable and potentially transforming this is. Be grateful...never before have so many humans had such a widespread chance to learn and grow. And...remember...while growing and learning can be exhilarating...it is often also uncomfortable and painful. That's all part of growth. Be grateful for your discomfort...and your pain...and enjoy the exhilaration. Be thankful for the internet.
2 comments:
A good article which well sums up the internet. I agree that the Internet is invaluable, a great resource. Though I became vegetarian prior to having on-line access the transition to veganism was helped by all the information available on line. I also find the Internet gives everyone a chance to be heard, to voice an opinion, to have their say. As you say it provides a great source of information that would otherwise not be available. I know at times it can feel as though the misery of the world is right on your door step and your eyes are opened to suffering that previously you were not aware of. And that can be depressing. However you can find out what is really going on from all over the world and not have to depend on information that is presented by the often biased media. It provides an opportunity to try and bring about change that would otherwise not be available. Indeed I am thankful for the internet and I would not wish to be without it though I admit to spending perhaps more time than I should on-line.
Thank you for commenting Christine. As you note...discovering information includes the minuses as well as the pluses and that can sometimes be hard to bear.
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