Journal: The Approaching Crisis

It's recently dawned on me that there more than seven continents taught to you at school, which are N. America, S. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. In fact, there is an eighth: the Internet. Consider: the empires that colonized the Americas knew about them for years before there was serious Europeanization (E-ization from now on, because it is so hard to spell out.). Once they started becoming seriously interested in expanding into the Americas, they reacted in the following ways: they first began settling the regions and using what they could to be more efficient. Second, they vilified the natives, decrying what they learned was necessary to survive and the culture that sprang from it as barbaric and savage. Third, they imposed their culture on the natives, forcing them to submit to their laws until everything that was native was now part of Europe. Anything they keep is seen as a novelty. I see this happening with the Internet. People have known about it for a long time, but haven't really cared about it. Now it's becoming more and more necessary for them to operate within it. So, in recent years, they have begun using what we have had, like e-mail and online news sources. Now they are saying our websites are bad, like the article on CNN. In it, the author implies that our culture is savage, cruel, and callous. Now again, they have begun imposing their laws upon us, barging into our 'continent' and claiming it is theirs because we aren't responsible enough. By the time they realize that they are wrong, it will be too late; our culture will be long gone. I propose the following: we, as a culture, begin mass-migrating to another medium, or we fight for our lands and keep out the intruders. I vote for the latter. It is not their right to steal what is ours, nor is it their 'responsibility' to use it the way it was 'supposed' to be used. Please, discuss this idea and think freely; the Internet is capable of so much more than what these people think. It has the capacity to disregard rules and format in such a unique way. We must preserve it.