Freedom to blog This is my 500th day of blogging.
I've had a few days off and occasionally lost momentum, but hey, I never promised anybody anything. I was inspired to start Jakartass by reading the blog of
Inspector Sands, a fellow
Charlton supporter. He led me to the Guv'nor, the
Diamond Geezer, chronicler of all things London who has now been blogging for
three very consistent years and 250,000 visits ~ 'only' ten times as many as
Jakartass, but who's counting?I may not have as much to say as him, but, goddamit, I'll keep on trying. You see, blogging isn't, for me, a matter of how I kissed the cat and smacked the girlfriend, in between screeds of shopping expeditions completed.
For me, it's a matter of democracy, of giving vent to thoughts which might otherwise remain bottled up. I write about perceived insanities and inanities, about how Planet Earth is being raped by greedy bastards who don't understand that you can't take it with you. As a parent, I'm concerned that my two sons will inherit an environment which will not sustain their children and their children's children.
I'm concerned that there are those without a voice who need help. Blogging is a tool for the voiceless, of which there are countless millions. I am proud to be a member of a classless society dedicated to exposing lies and cover ups, to widening perceptions in a narrowing, increasingly homogenous world.
In an era whose triumphant idea is capitalism, where success is generally measured in the accumulation of wealth, it is hard to conceive of a parallel society established and self-governed on principles of trust and common ownership. But it exists.
The biggest aggregation of human experience and knowledge ever created belongs to everyone, it is available on demand and it is free.
But for how long? Ranged against the new culture of digital freedom is a strange coalition of spooks, suits and vandals. There are governments unable to resist the technology that can track our every move; there are corporations lusting after the attention of the 2 billion eyeballs focused on screens; and there are the spammers, clogging up the net with junk mail, hijacking computers to peddle trash.
Ours is the last generation that will remember the analogue world and feel the difference between the two realms. For the next generation of digital natives, the web will be a slick, commercial machine. It will be just as big as the world we currently live in and it will be just as ruthless and as corrupt.
I hope not.
I will continue to rail against corruption in all its forms. Seeking personal gain at the expense of others in any form is, for Jakartass, morally repugnant.
That is why I also urge you to support the investigation into the truth about the assassination of Munir. There is a website headed
Seeking Truth and Justice dedicated to the case. Bookmark it.
And keep watching this hyperspace.
Please.
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