Constraining Thought & Action

In class on November 22nd we discussed the notion of constraining thought and action, in that we're shaped by the society that we live in.  The trajectory of corporations is a totalitarianism state which is defined by a "if you want it, get it from us" mantra.   It is a perfect tool of control for corporations to control and privatize the production of meanings and things.  One major tool of control that capitalism has over us is the push for individualism instead of collectivism.  They don't want us to share our music and other media with our friends, they want us to only think about ourselves.

What kinds of meanings are they trying to attach to issues of piracy? That it's illegal and immoral. What surprises me the most about this commercial is that there's a hotline for reporting people who pirate movies and music. 

The internet allows for liberation and deprivatization of things. The internet might have the status of private property, but we treat it as public through file sharing.  The internet also allows for the mash up of digital objects, culture jamming and the changing of meanings.  As a result, the meanings are becoming less stable and are being contested in the public sphere; capitalism is struggling.

Although the internet allows for a new public sphere for public debate, capitalism is still attempting to stay in power (e.g. taking advantage of our gift economy on websites like YouTube). Even though the public sphere redefines the normative debate by allowing everyone's opinion to be published, it is a filtered process. Unfortunately, not every blogger will receive the same recognition as the people on CNN. Still though, us bloggers are increasingly setting the agenda, with a greater variety of opinions into the social system.  In countries like Iran though, the same media system that expands the normative debate allows the elite to punish the people who speak out.

So, keep on and blog on!