Friday, May 28, 2010

The Political Influence of the Internet

The Internet is something used commonly among children, teens, adults, even the elderly. It is a massive change in how people do things, and with such easy access it might even be an obsession. It is much easier to go turn on the computer rather than going to the library and checking out dozens of books when in reality, virtual reality that is, the Internet is just one click away. Many think the Internet was invented recently, the first actual approach to making the Internet took place in about 1957 when the soviet union launched the Sputnik I, but it was not until the 1990's that it started changing the way people thought, even in politics things were beginning to change, and not always for the best.


For politics the Internet has made things a lot easier, campaigning has become much easier. Their popularity has increased and has spread out through the people by articles and news. It is beginning to seem like everything can be handled on the Internet, but should it? In 2003 Howard Dean had an idea, he saw the Internet as a way to build fundraisers, track fans, and promote his campaign. Howard Dean was the governer of Vermont from 1991 to 2002. Dean managed to collect seventy million dollars from his fundraising, he provoked health care for children and he was also remembered for his civil union law allowing homosexuals to have the same rights as heterosexuals. Dean did not only use the internet as a way to promote his campaign but also to read what people had to say about it in blogs or chats and change his mistakes. Dean became an expert at managing his campaign on the internet, after gaining so much money, it was in his philosophy to move forward with the internet and use it on a website called, Meetup. com many bloggers dropped in the discuss Dean's methods and strategies. Many people loved the way the internet tied in with campaigning, what was thought to be boring before had become more exciting and to interact with many people all over the country it added thought to what decisions should be made. After a while Dean had built up about 140,000 fans on Meetup.com.

With such a successful campaign some argue how he did it, and how interesting it was to gain so much support just through the Internet. It was a shock to many people, being that nothing like this had happened before, the Internet was being used in so many ways, it was making things easier for everyone. Dean believed that with the television, radio and newspaper telling the people what is happening, the people had no room "shout back" with the internet citizens have a way to tell the government what they are doing wrong. Though Dean's campaign did not succeed in the end, he still managed to make a change in the way people thought. He gave an idea of independence, and he really stressed giving people rights of speech. Which is one thing American's stand for and look forward to. Without the Internet things would have been harder for the people. Before this idea people might have felt trapped, as if they had no room to talk or say how they felt. Dean made it easier for people to express the good and bad of how the government runs, and for that regardless of his failed attempt for presidency his idea of campaigning on the internet help people understand things and speak up more. In the future Internet campaigning should be a priotity to others, it would help citizens know that their voice can be heard.

Howard Dean on Internet disrupting politics from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

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On March 14th of 1879 a Jewish boy by the name of Albert Einstein was conceived by Pauline Einstein and Hermann Einstein. Einstein was born in Ulm Württemberg in the German Empire, as a young boy he enjoyed building mechanical devices. Quickly Einstein showed mass amounts of intelligence in mathematics. In 1894 his father’s business went under and he and his family were forced to move to Italy, shortly after that he attended college at the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland he graduated at the age of seventeen with permission from his father with a degree in physics. Einstein alone is one of the most complicated minds ever known, so strange that scientists even preserved his brain for examinations. His theory of relativity led to Atomic bombs causing him to suffer an immense amount of guilt; unable to find out how he was so smart there were many theories of why it may have been. His effect of society soon became much bigger than he ever intended it to be.

In 1905 Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity was introduced in his paper, The Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies. At age twenty-six he proved his famous equation, which soon led to the creation of atomic energy. Einstein, being the creator of the idea of relativity, soon became a very guilty man. His equation mended the process of atomic war fare together. His intensions had nothing to do with any form of destruction, he was a pacifist, and he had no desire to fight in war or start war what so ever. Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt, with intentions to expedite atomic bombs. He did not think that FDR would actually launch it but after FDR died President Truman made the decision to send the atomic bomb, soon after an atomic bomb was launched and caused Einstein’s biggest mistake, and on August 6th, 1945 an atomic bomb hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Einstein suffered much guilt from this tragedy and was devastated for long after.

Though some may infer that Einstein’s intelligence gave more damage than a good impact, I beg to differ. Einstein gave more incite to the world than many people in the past and even in the present. He achieved an immense amount of things, and wrote over 450 works. When Einstein passed he had no fear of dying, he wanted to die naturally and he knew that when his time came, he should not attempt to prologue his life, he was meant to die on that day. In his time he conspicuously shocked everyone with his brilliance. He amplified mathematics, physics and many perceptions of life. Despite his relations to the start of atomic bombs Albert Einstein was an utter genius, there is a little bit in all of us that envies his aptitude. Some may call him a nuisance to his time, to others he was a role model, but in the end I think we all know he is a mystery. His intelligence was literally deadly but he left a legacy that still lives on today; without Albert Einstein we would be lost, he affected of the way we live today, and his achievements were very memorable.

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