Thomas Friedman on Filtering the Internet

In this powerful New York Times column, Thomas Friedman comments on the “self-radicalization” of the alleged Boston Marathon bombers, courtesy of Internet postings by radical jihadists. “[I]t is another reminder that the Internet is a digital river that carries incredible sources of wisdom and hate along the same current,” says Friedman. “It’s all there together. And our kids and citizens usually interact with this flow nakedly, with no supervision… As such, it is more important than ever that we build the internal software, the internal filters, into every citizen to sift out fact from fiction in this electronic torrent, which offers so much information that has never been touched by an editor, a censor, or a libel lawyer.”

Modems sold in America should come with a warning label from the Surgeon General, he says: Attention: Judgment not included. The more sophisticated and high-speed the Internet becomes, the more the basics matter: “good judgment, respect for others who are different, and basic values of right and wrong. Those you can’t download,” says Friedman. “They have to be uploaded, the old-fashioned way, by parents around the dinner table, by caring but demanding teachers at school, and by responsible spiritual leaders in a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque.” 

“Judgment Not Included” by Thomas Friedman in The New York Times, Apr. 28, 2013 (p. SR11), http://nyti.ms/167yAgb 

 From the Marshall Memo #484