The Internet, Poli-Blogs and Freedom

In America, as all over the world-and New Zealand, as all the blogs on the subject here would suggest, political blogs are the latest force in the political realm.

In San Diego, CA, 50 notable bloggers along with the 400 mainstream media are going to attend the 2007 California State Democratic Convention. One political commentator in San Francisco had this to say about the rise of so-called "PoliBloggers":

"With the 2008 presidential election just 556 days away, political parties and candidates understand that bloggers have become a critical part of the commentary on political developments "on a scale that is absolutely astounding," he said.

Many of them have passionate followers, people who are crazy about politics," Leyden said. And if you legitimize them, and bring them into inner circles ... they will get a huge new segment of folks energized that aren't necessarily reading newspapers and aren't involved in politics."

Political Bloggers are not just a small dish on the side; they're evolving into a major force in political debate today. With that inevitability, the same question has to be asked: What does this mean for free speech, democracy and freedom in general?

In today's Globalized world, the rise of "PoliBloggers", and the internet in general, are good things for freedom. In opressed countries like China (just look at "The Great Firewall of China") and neighbour North Korea, it means that citizens, who have been denied acess to outside information, can see for themselves what is going around in other places of the world, and analyze properly views that may be considered taboo. The internet, because of it's global scale, is very hard to opress by a single national government, even in the nation trying to oppress it.

The rise of the internet and bloggers are also a boon to the Free Market. The internet can provide market information from nearly any part of the world in an instant. This can prevent ripping-off, and serves to make businesses all the more competitive. The internet can also provide information in market and innovative trends in other parts of the world.

Also, with the rise of the internet came chatrooms, such as MSN Messenger. Thanks to these chatrooms, we are instantly able to share our views and discuss events with people all around the world. Back only a decade-and-a-half ago, this would've been a huge feat of technology. Now, it is almost as normal to some people as sleeping and eating.

With the increased sharing of information that comes with the internet, we are able to analyze and discuss opinions that would be disallowed in many places. We are also able to get market information from all around the world, making the Free Market hugely more competitive and puts things on a more equal playing field (not in the Leftist sense). In short, the Internet is good for freedom-and so are the Poli-Bloggers.