An apology. In keeping with current attitudes and weary experience, we were under the assumption that the Internet was just an overgrown electronic jungle of dross with the occasional (rare) well-managed garden website of quality.

We also believed that what stood for debate on the Web was: "It sucks" vs "it rulez". Or sometimes the variant: "I rule", "No - you suck, lame ass"

So, after the shock, grief, and anger of the New York tragedy this week, we fired up our browsers with dread. Scared and resigned to the fact that most of our usual websites would be aflame with anti-Islamic / bomb the muthafuckers / USA Is The Best posturing in REALLY BIG COLOURFUL LETTERS. Just another day on the American-dominated Net, basically.

To our surprise, we found the reverse.

Most of frothing and war-mongering and nuke waving came from 'establishment' sites like New York Times and CNN, and their English brothers in froth, notably the The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail. Lapdogs to government thinking, them?

In contrast, the best, broadest and most intelligent debate, as well as a slew of personal eye-witness reports and photos, came, remarkably, from 'amateur' community websites like metafilter.com and slashdot.org. The threads here were heartfelt and compelling without being dramatised by the grave voice of a reporter or clip after clip after clip of the WTC being struck down, over and over again.

Read for instance this Metafilter thread as the drama unfolds or later the measured thoughtful debate of Did We Deserve This?

Maybe we're looking at the wrong sites. There must be forums out there where the debate is as monolithic and uncompromising as George W Bush's face of the last week. We can't find them. Everywhere we go, we get emotional but measured, passionate but reasoned chat.

Yeah, well, maybe the Internet is just a watering-hole for 100 million or so liberals, the bleeding hearts, the wishy-washy, and all those opinionated normal people who just don't want World War III. Whatever it is, it seems totally at odds with the opinion writers of the leading broadsheets and the minds of their elected officials.

So, we're sorry Internet for misjudging you.

The Web rulez.

by Lucy Jennings

related links:
seethru weblog WTC links »