I recently watched a documentary titled ‘Never Sorry’ on the life story of the outspoken, Chinese global art star, Ai Weiwei. It was an inspiring story on how one person, despite sounding totally crazy, uses art and technology to change and ‘push the boundaries of freedom in China’.
Ai Weiwei is a political artist and he tries to dissipate China’s strict regime by presenting underground exhibitions, publishing coverless books and posting regularly on his website, until the Chinese government took it down in 2008 and limited his work by setting cameras inside his house. But that did not stop Weiwei, he turned to twitter, and has not slowed down since then.
Eli Pariser explained in his Ted talk how the Internet was initially thought to be used for ‘great things’, how it would be a gateway to connect to the world, to introduce new ideas and most importantly to help democracy drive forward. And even if the web is looked upon as devilish, it rings a completely different tune in the East. Ai Weiwei uses the social media as a vehicle to his express himself and get justice in China. Weiwei urges his countrymen to use the social media and he himself has shamed and exposed many politicians via viral videos and tweets.. The point I am trying to make is that maybe the Internet is not doomed for failure after all. If the web is serving as a platform for these activist to vocalize themselves and bring to attention the corruption-fueled Chinese government, then there is still hope that the Internet is being used for a far greater purpose.
Here is a small clip where Ai Weiwei states his feeling and applauds the web stating that ‘the Internet and social media constantly puts the (Chinese) government on trial’. In the end, it boils down to the fact that the Internet CAN be used for far greater things, but it is up to the user to make that decision.
Ai Weiwei: The Internet vs. The Chinese Government
That’s so funny you happened to mention a film featuring Ai Weiwei. I was just watching a different one on PBS last night: “Who’s Afraid of Ai Weiwei”. What an amazing person!
Yes, this was an amazing documentary. And I applaud Weiwei for his fierceness and fearlessness of the strict Chinese government. Like his mother states in the documentary, “How can one person change the entire nation? But if nobody stands up, how can change ever come to the country?” Weiwei states that the Internet is one of the strongest tool that can help them outdo the Chinese government. Therefore he urges the young generation to embrace the latest technology, and to use it as a tool to bring change and do greater good.
Here we are worrying about personalized advertizements, while in a foreign country, a man can practically be banned from speaking out on the internet (a tool that is technically supposed to promote freedom of expression.) I think social media is a great platform for personal expression without specific limits, especially in this case of an honest brave activist trying to inspire change.
The one thing I’m worried about is that what if Chinese government and Chinese web system collaborate to screen and filter information on the internet ? I heard Tamding said that Chinese government controls the media and there are very limited or government-favored political views . What if People like Ai Weiwei’s effort are screened out even before he reaches out to others ? I hope that our latest technology would remain as neutral as possible so that people like Weiwei would express their personal feelings or ideas against any political boundaries.
To ibosenko:
Yes I completely agree with you. I think here in the west, people are taking the Internet for granted, and misusing it to a great degree. We are not thankful for having the right to freely use the Internet, nor are we aware of the greatness that can be achieved by using Internet, ‘the right way.’
To Jayeon:
Firstly, you make a great point on how the Chinese government could use personalization filters that promote their views and do away with controversial topics. I am not from China, but I do know that the Chinese government do practice such methods. When a person in China googles the word, ‘Dalai Lama’ a Tibetan monk fighting for human rights, the searcher will not find any positive content about Dalai Lama (for instance, that the Dalai Lama won the Noble Peace Prize for his human right efforts), however he will be filled with negative information about the Dalai Lama, leading that searcher to make an assumption based on that information alone.
I wonder how the people in West would react to this, if the US government did such a thing.