PLEASE DON'T SHOOT (my picture)

I am supposed to write a blog answering the question "How do subaltern
voices get a hearing in today's mass media." I am not going to. Not
exactly. As we discussed this topic in class some much more
interesting questions came to mind about the power of technology and
how it could help or harm a group of people. As we watched a video of
Ann Jones describe the technique she uses to give power to African
women I felt inspired. These women are given a very basic point and
shoot camera to document the challenges in their lives. Jones then
blows up some of these picture so the women can show the village
chief. In one village the women were given immediate access and
involvement in their chiefs council. Lovely story. But that is just
one case.  A girl in my class brought up the point that, that story
was a best case scenario , and that surely there have been conflicts
in other places with the same program. This is where my mind went
reeling and I realized that this program, while idealistically a good
change could very well just be the start of a technological world war.

With the expedient rate at which technologies change and the new
global environment we are all encountering it is hard to know what
dangers lie ahead.  We are given a strange amount of freedom in this
climate. We have the ability to share out thoughts and ideas with a
global audience with no monetary cost.  We are connected not just to
the people in our towns and cities, but to cultures all over the
world. (Heck, I played scrabble this morning with a woman in Thailand)
With new technologies comes different forms of communication. The
majority of American youth has access to the tools they need to make
movies and post them on the internet. Information travels faster than
ever before, with more accuracy than ever before. It seems like we are
on the cusp of a complete transformation that affords us more freedoms
than ever before. But what does that same tool enable to hinder our
freedoms?

As I thought about these abused and desperate women in Africa with
their digital cameras I felt a sense of impending danger for them.
Yes, the chief has now seen the struggles they are faced with. The
cameras eliminated hear- say evidence and gave these women a voice.
But those who have oppressed them will only stand stronger against
them.  What technologies will the men have access to that will again
put those women in the line of danger? And then what will they do? It
reminded me of the obscene amount of money we must spend on protection
in this country. We get bigger guns, they get bigger guns, we get
bigger guns and so on. Technology is already on the forefront of
ripping away all of the freedoms it has provided. It enables our
government to gain unauthorized access to personal information, it
creates hackers, identity thieves, computer viruses. There is a danger
in technology that we are unwilling to address, and it is only a
matter of time before it takes away the voice it has so recently given
to us.