Power in Numbers

The most interesting thing about this weeks readings had to do with the article on the Nike e-mails. Peretti says he sent the emails out to a dozen friends, but by publication of his writing it had reached millions of people across the world. He wasn't even trying to distribute this over the internet, but it happened anyway. Think of how many people someone could reach if they were actually trying to get their information read. This type of power could be both beneficial and detrimental all at the same time. Detrimental in that a lot of individuals may be disturbed or disgusted by watching or reading something that was sent to them. Or it may be just a huge waste of time. In Peretti's article he wrote about the benefit the web could hold for activists. This is an easy and efficient way for people to connect with one another. I am sure there are countless individuals out there who feel very strongly about a certain issue but feel they have no way to participate in their cause. It may be from location isolation, monetary problems, lack of time, lack of support in their communities, anything. But hop on the internet and you could probably find thousands of people who share the same ideas as you. Join everybody with those ideas together and they may actually accomplish something. Isn't the old saying power in numbers? It gives a little hope to everyone who actually cares about something out there. Not only could it help social activists who want to band together to fight a certain cause, but it can also be useful in exposing negative attributes about people or corporations that run the mass media. Lowly peons like us do not have the money to buy commercial time on television and radio, or buy ad space within print media; they do. They are using these mediums to control the way we think about and utilize their products or services. The world wide web gives us an outlet against this mind control. It gives us a chance to come together and fight "the man" even when that man is supposedly unstoppable.