Blogging with the Enemy
I was at a complete loss about what to write, so I started thinking about the concept of a war between Red Sox and Yankees fans, then about the concept of blogging, then about the application of Schmidt's theories to the Blogesphere...
I'm not entirely sure whether I agree with Scmidt's definition of the political. I do think that there is some merit in saying that situations where the option of complete physical annihilation of the opponent is kept on the table are fundamentally different from other situations, such as the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, or the systematic economic destruction of small stores by vast chains. I understand the desire to try classifying these, at least the later, under Schmidt's friend-enemy distinction, but, since sports rivalries and cut-throat economic competition existed when Schmidt was writing his tract, I don't think there is any excuse for altering Schmidt's concepts.
The area where I think there might be an excuse is in the realm of technology, in particular, the internet. There was no such thing as the internet in 1932. The idea of an electronic network that would allow people to keep in touch virtually instantaneously around the world was so far beyond the technology of the time as to be completely ridiculous, the subject of only the most bizarre science fiction.
Now it is a reality. And with that reality comes a new aspect of human interaction. It is quite possible for two people to develop a relationship across the internet without ever meeting or even knowing one true fact about the other. Don't we often read about criminals, particularly child molesters, who are caught when they talk to 13-year-old girls who happend to be undercover cops? So, if it is possible to develop relationships across the internet, than it is possible to develop enemies. Of course, with current technology, those might primarily be personal enemies, exempt from Schmidt's definition. But what if we colonized other worlds, as in Ender's Game? What if there started to be an interworld-internet? What would that do to our friends, and to our enemies?
posted by lennearb @ 9:45 AM
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