New media

New media- Power to people or threat to stability?

According to the Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, the definition of new media is “any interactive media, esp. electronic mass media combined with computers; also, this combination as a profession”. In both the articles given, both the authors talked about the use of new media in this case the internet. In my view point, new media is a power to people however if misused, it turns out to be a threat to stability.

Indeed, it is true that internet has allowed us to create a platform for opinions to be heard and it has brought us to see the other sides of stories and how other people feel about certain issues, promoting “honest discussion and analysis”. Most importantly, it allows people to work far from sources of power. In contrary, our newspapers can be controlled by governments and therefore the other sides of the stories maybe kept. Thus the citizens would rather go to the internet to find out more. In other instances, we can use the internet to voice out our objections which would prompt the government to make changes to certain areas of a country. We have forums of newspapers online, people are allowed to write comments after reading the articles online and in Singapore we have The Straits Times STOMP that allows Singaporeans to post their articles and photos online.

However, many of us have seen the dark side of the internet, that is the sex sites and how people “purvey their sick ideas”. Some even abuse the internet to use it to influence the others of negative values and thoughts. They criticize on the other races and show discrimination. As seen in the second article, people have been using the internet for terror purposes.

As you can see this is what happens when we take the internet and the power given to us for granted and at the same time abusing it. We take the example of the anti- Islamic film, “Fitna” by Geert Wilders. Although all Dutch television networks have refused to broadcast the film entirely, the internet has given him another option. A website run by an extremist nationalist party in the Czech Republic has offered Mr. Wilders a platform the show his video. Thus this video in seconds could be shown to the whole wide world.

Netizens that make statements that shows racism and discrimination shows great irresponsibility. Reason being they can thus cause controversies and conflicts which can thus lead to death. The US terrorists even use it for fund raising, training and planning purposes in the past. Now, it is used for radicalization and recruitment purposes. This has caused people to self-radicalize and self-recruit. The internet has allowed them to make movements and influence the others, changing their mindsets eventually. These are examples in which new media can be threat to stability.

Ironically, the internet can still be used to counter to these problems. As suggested by the author of the second article, such as develop more anti- radicalism and counter ideological websites. In this case the internet as been used as a power to prevent and to educate.

It is really up to individuals to decide for themselves whether to use internet responsibly and not abuse it or use it to incite hatred and influence others negatively. I do urge all to be careful of what you read on the internet, and we have to be able to distinguish propaganda from the truth. In conclusion, I would like to repeat again that internet can be a power to people but if misused it is a threat to stability.