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This morning the NYTimes has an Op-Ed piece titled "Fight Terror with You-Tube". The author, Daniel Kimmage, says that the web was originally a good platform for Al-Qaeda's demagoguery, but that the egalitarian interactivity and social networking of "Web 2.0" has caused this strategy to backfire.
He says:
He goes on to say that those same countries do the most to restrict the internet and concludes, "unfettered access to a free Internet is not merely a goal to which we should aspire on principle, but also a very practical means of countering Al Qaeda".
Does restricting the internet cause susceptibility to radical sentiments? We have correlation, not necessarily causation, but it is sugggestive. Note that Iran is NOT in the list of countries of origin for foreign fighters in Iraq. Our good friend, Saudi Arabia, is.
Meanwhile, there are some in our government who want to block internet content that they deem fosters terrorism; i.e., content put up by Al-Qaeda and others. They are afraid to allow citizens to hear and possibly be swayed, not realizing that the clear light of public examination is more apt to provoke ridicule than conversion. Kimmage is addressing governments of the Middle East, but it applies to us as well.
He says:
Unfortunately, the authoritarian governments of the Middle East are doing their best to hobble Web 2.0. By blocking the Internet, they are leaving the field open to Al Qaeda and its recruiters. The American military’s statistics and jihadists’ own online postings show that among the most common countries of origin for foreign fighters in Iraq are Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.
He goes on to say that those same countries do the most to restrict the internet and concludes, "unfettered access to a free Internet is not merely a goal to which we should aspire on principle, but also a very practical means of countering Al Qaeda".
Does restricting the internet cause susceptibility to radical sentiments? We have correlation, not necessarily causation, but it is sugggestive. Note that Iran is NOT in the list of countries of origin for foreign fighters in Iraq. Our good friend, Saudi Arabia, is.
Meanwhile, there are some in our government who want to block internet content that they deem fosters terrorism; i.e., content put up by Al-Qaeda and others. They are afraid to allow citizens to hear and possibly be swayed, not realizing that the clear light of public examination is more apt to provoke ridicule than conversion. Kimmage is addressing governments of the Middle East, but it applies to us as well.
