|
[ Politics ] Among one of the most recent events in the debate over the Digital Divide is the Digital Divide Summit held December 9. The primary focus was to address the growing gap between those with and those without Internet access. Findings included mostly observations, such as that 60% of households earning $75,000 or more had Internet access, versus 10% of those earning less than $20,000. In traditional politics, many are standing forward as champions of the future and working to reduce the gap. President Clinton credited Al Gore and the e-rate program for wiring up over half of America's schools to the Internet. Should we, therefore, also blame Al Gore for the predominant failure of this program at producing substantial change in our schools? Access to the Internet is not the solution some thought it was. Besides that, the people at large, especially Net Day participants, are more responsible than the government for wiring schools. If anything the government should be address the fundamental necessities of all schools, namely enough funding for adequate educational materials and facilities. Politicians may be leaning on the Digital Divide today just as they did in the 1980s with the anti-drug war. While drug use was definitely an issue in the 80s, the media blew it out of proportion, and politicians used this to commit acts that would otherwise have been completely unacceptable to the public. The Digital Divide provides politicians with yet another platform from which to address the different races. Perhaps by championing Al Gore, President Clinton was providing his own subtle endorsement of the presidential hopeful to the many races who would see themselves disadvantaged by the divide. Furthermore, the issue is not just about between blacks and
whites, as the NTIA and the
media would have us believe. Looking at the data, we see that, in fact, Asians
outnumber whites in all factors of access and computer ownership. Why is the NTIA's analysis of the data
then focused entirely on white versus black or latinos? The United States can no
longer place issues in front of people as black and white, especially in places
like California where latinos are expected to outnumber whites several years
from now. The Digital Divide is just the latest ground where this mistake has
been made.
|