Al Gore On Net Neutrality
In an excerpt from Al Gore’s new book in Time Magazine, he brings up the following points:
- Americans watch too much TV
- Americans buy into lies easily, (controversial) example: Some people (still) think Saddam was connected to 9/11
- You can buy votes and sway opinions if you can afford enough TV advertising
- No one listens to speeches on the Senate floor anymore. Not even Senators.
- Americans read too little
- Body language and visual rhetoric (e.g. sighs) are sometimes more influential than reason and logic in terms of swaying the opinions of Americans
- Americans feel disconnected from the legislative process and many young Americans question the efficacy of American democracy
- Democratic discourse is enabled by the new medium of the Internet and has the potential to offset the negative effects of passively watching TV
- Net neutrality is essential to maintain the freedom of this discourse
Overall he repeats many well known and oft-debated problems and issues, maneuvering them into and interesting and compelling argument against net neutrality. I’m not sure if that’s the subject of the entire book, but if it is, it will definitely be a strong blow to the tiered Internet movement.
I agree (surprisingly) with most of what Al Gore says in this excerpt, though I am still a little disgusted with how he mixes his personal politics (e.g. 2000 elections, moveon.org, etc.) into his arguments at every opportunity. I think he could be a lot more compelling if he’d stick more to the issue at hand and avoid some of the more polarizing examples even if he feels they’re illustrative examples of his points.
Book Excerpt: The Assault on Reason
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