Taran, I was born in the rural area, I work in the "ghetto", this advertisement is irrelevant to both and a distraction from the real needs of those places and the real people who live their real lives there. It is a fiction, its a presentation dangerous and counterproductive. What it sells is an ideal that neither presents the reality of exclusion nor inequality nor realistic solutions to them. This is what is wrong about the advertisement and what I sensed in the snippet I quoted from your reply to the Wiki thread.
The view always depends on where one stands. From one part of where I stand -pretty much a peacnik - the Ghandi clip caused me to think what might have happened had Ghandi had the tools available to him today that we have now? Would his message have caught sufficiently to reduce the $500 billion the American government spends annually on "defense"?
Another part of my view was from the cynical lens - "ya, shurrr, let's all go out and buy some new gadgets so we don't miss the latest and greatest....that's just what the world needs more of...more toys, more goodies. barf barf."
Another part of my view was my involvement in the Ben Franklin Tercentenary, 11 months from now...If our Ben 300 guys could create something like the Ghandi clip, would it help us promote the virtues of Ben Franklin? How could it help us make the Tercentenary the "largest, longest running birthday party in history?"
And the last part of my viewpoint was, hopefully, somewhat rational - "Admit it, John, visual images have huge impact. Whether the product you are selling is improving access to education or reducing the divide or increasing sales of tennis shoes, or the merits of Ben Franklin -- video - and the means to distribute same widely - is a necessary part of your arsenal."
Even inside a single pair of shoes, the view changes depending on which image one calls to mind.
This has been an interesting discussion. Thank for all the contributions. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
