Internet Misuse

Fox News provided a story involving the eight most widely distributed photoshopped internet pictures. One picture involved a man on top of the World Trade Center posing for a picture while a plane is coming towards him in the background. Another picture had President Obama with a cigarette in his mouth. There was another picture with Sarah Palin in a bikini resembling the American flag holding a gun. Another picture involved a shark leaping out of the water towards a man on a ladder connected to a helicopter. Every picture looks exceptionally real, and all are completely fake. The misuses of the photographs are demonstrated through the misleading and fabricated presentation. The ease of transferring information has made these photographs extremely popular, and you have maybe even seen the pictures from Facebook or emails. If taken seriously the pictures could compromise the reputations of the people being represented. The 9/11 picture is sick and demonstrates a lack of compassion and consideration for those involved. The shark is less harmful but can regress people’s intelligence with false knowledge.
The photoshopped pictures are examples of technopoly taking over. Postman explains that technopoly emphasizes “progress without limits, rights without responsibilities, and technology without cost. The Technopoly story is without a moral center” (p. 179). Technology as simple as photoshop follows his ideas. The technology progresses without any real concern over the technology being negative for society. Photoshopping is seen as harmless and rarely do these situations become a legal matter. Photoshop and the connection the internet provides have little moral direction. Spreading the pictures to the popularity they have achieved represents the freedom and capacity the internet provides. I thought the Palin and Obama pictures were funny, but to others the pictures could be seen as slanderous and insulting. Postman emphasizes the freelance landscape of technology. Progress is seen as positive and negative outcomes are overshadowed by technological advancement.
I do not see any of the pictures as negative except for the 9/11 plane photograph. The picture was flawlessly created, but projected tremendous insensitivity. I do not feel like we can do anything to prevent these pictures from being made popular. The pictures work as gossip. They are interesting and thus are readily exposed to others. I think stopping the spread of these pictures would be as difficult as driving past an accident without slowing down. People are fascinated by unique and out of the ordinary pictures, stories, and events. The pictures of Sarah Palin and Obama could have been shared to create laughter, the shark picture could have been shared to entertain, and the 9/11 plane picture could have been shared in order to find truth among other variables. As society I wonder if we are capable of holding in our urges to spread interesting information. I also wonder how much worse the internet has been for the spreading of gossip. We are a culture of sharing information and the internet has made the process much more instant as well as convenient.

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