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bard_blo.txt
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1996-03-11
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[Prev|Next|Index] Thu, Feb 22, 1996 Bard Bloom
Equality and the Net
By Bard Bloom
The net is a kind of place that hasn't been seen in the civilized
world before. It's a place where people can actually be equal.
Race, sex, physical disability, religion, wealth, and most of the
other bases for discrimination and division are invisible on the
net. People meet and talk, sharing thoughts and feelings, with no
barriers save the limitations of language. The net is the
birthplace of deep friendships, deep understandings, the
celebration of differences.
In the coming decades, the net will unite the world, or as much
of the world as will participate. Friendships will cross
continents and countries; net-friendships initially, but they
will (and have) blossomed into social and economic ties.
This depends crucially on freedom of communication: the ability
to say what we need to say. If America censors the net, America
will cut itself out of the heart of the net.
In the twentieth century, America was the spirit of freedom and
equality. If we continue to censor the net, in the twenty-first,
we will be the spirit of totalitarianism and chains.
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[Twenty-Four Hours of Democracy]