The Lack Of Network Neutrality Is The New Racism. Bloggers, Please Stand Up!

Besides being a way for a web user to get some info on a topic, blogs have reached today’s popularity because they also come with something the Internet has lacked up until the Web 2.0 revolution: blogs connect people (no intention to copy Nokia’s motto).

Blogs might be very objective when it comes to some things, but since they are written by a person (aka the blogger), that info is basically what a person (objective or subjective in his train of thoughts) says about something. Blogs are more a dialog between the writer and the reader. And with the “add a comment feature”, this connection goes both ways. The commenting feature is probably what separates blogs from traditional websites: besides the fact that the reader has the opportunity to state his mind, good and insightful comments add to the value of that page.

But the most valuable thing people could learn from blogs is tolerance (aka Say No Racism). I personally find that bloggers should (and in 90% of the cases they actually are) people that don’t let nationality, gender, age or skin color interfere with sharing valuable info or insight.

In my blogging experience, I collaborated with people from Israel, United States, Romania, France, and had readers come in from almost all countries in the world, and I must say that I am amazed by how much you can learn from the ethnic and cultural diversity out there. Although I honestly tried to never associate myself with racism, sexism or any other prejudice, it was my blogging experience (not entirely by itself, but it was still a major factor) that thought me that mankind would have not evolved if not for this diversity.

And maybe I am wrong, but the Internet is great because we are all equal in our rights. While I think there is a lot of work to be done before we stop misunderstanding equality and democracy with anarchism (spammers, offensive YouTube/Blog commentators, etc) should learn that it the Web is probably the best promoter for the freedom (mostly the freedom of speech), but, as in real life, if you don’t abide the laws, you will pay.

And it was more than disappointing that the FCC could not reinforce Network Neutrality. Humankind is just learning to say no to racism. Are we ready to invent and allow a new type of discrimination ?