The Voice of the Voiceless

This past week, the government of Egypt silenced the voice of its people trying to kill the revolution.  They did something so drastic, I didn't even know it was possible.  The Egyptian government activated an internet killswitch, terminating most of the internet activity for the common citizens of Egypt, taking away the voice of millions across the country.

Our discussion in class brought up many topics.  China censors the internet and media so drastically that its scary.  Apparently, the recent news of the Egypt didn't even reach Chinese media.

In a very recent article by Malcom Gladwell called The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, he states that social media won't singlehandedly provoke mass protests.  However I believe it has reinvented our ability to unite and stand for what we believe in.  He mentioned in the article that Twitter was the reason why thousands banded together in Moldova to protest in 2009.  Mass activism is one of the huge benefits to the contemporary social media.  

"As the unrest in Egypt stretches on, (The Chinese Communist Party) has blocked the country's name from micro-blogs and is scrubbing related comments from the web" (Time).

The first things that comes to mind are Brave New World and 1984.  The internet has brought the people of the world together and it has given everyone a voice.  We have become so dependent on the internet in the past decade.  Its how we express ourselves, its how we stay in touch with friends, its how we find information...  The fact that our government would want to reserve the right to take our voice away is simply degrading.  There has been no reasoning that internet should be able to be killed by out government.  According to Joe Lieberman, this would only take place during a "cyber-emergency," but it just seems to me like its the PATRIOT act all over again.  


Lieberman condemned Egypt's action as "totally wrong" and defended their own legislation (GNC.com).

Will this legislature pass through congress?  Who knows.  Can we fight it?  We sure can.  How will we voice our opinion?  Through the internet.  See how important social media has become?  The internet has become the voice of the voiceless, and to take that away would be taking away our voice.  Since our discussion about egypt, there have been huge protests in Egypt.  The internet has now been reactivated by the government.  

One of the comments says, "these are people. power and religion has nothing to do with it. im glad and happy for the egyptian people fighting for a better fairer way of life in there country. LOVE FROM IRELAND :)"

The world has been brought together.