I am an early adopter. I started with working with computers in 1972 in a stats course at York University using APL (a programming language). My bachelor’s thesis used a computer model, written in Fortran, to estimate pollution dispersion from a point source. My first personal computer was a home-brew that ran CP/M (control program for mircocomputers) as an operating system – it predated DOS. And I was using the net before the World Wide Web – back in the days of Freenets and Compuserve. This is not to brag – I have just been around this technology for a long time.
So what do you do when an elderly relative (not a close one, mind you) discovers the wonders of the Internet and insists on sharing everything and anything he comes across. My Dad’s cousin is in his mid-80s and at least once or twice a day, I receive the mailing list post of his interests – which unfortunately don’t have any interest for me. It wouldn’t be so bad if the e-mails were limited to beautiful landscapes or puppies and kittens. But included in the flood are borderline racist observations, misogynistic jokes and rants about things that he either doesn’t understand or can’t abide. I have asked him to stop sending me these posts and while they stopped for a time, they are back and more frequent than ever.
I understand we live in an amazing time. Our world is now available on our desktop. I can fly to anywhere on the planet courtesy of Google Earth and in many instances see where my friends live. We have up to the second access to news and sports. As I have said before, this is Star Trek come to life.
I also understand the attraction in sharing these marvellous times. However, when we are just carrying on with old prejudices and sharing them with light speed, I wonder how far any of us have come. Sorry Jim, your posts are no longer welcome and won’t be read by me. Sad in a way – given the power of communication that the Web affords.
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