Resurrecting Old Ties in New Ways

Networking courtesy neilpeterson.com

Identity Crisis

    In an era of Internet searches, digital genealogies, on-line networks, Facebook and other social media, inter-personal networks and constructed identities are the name of the day. 

    For some reason, we do not seem to like to name this process or reality as such.  Despite not wanting to admit that we still label,  we make constant grouping and identity decisions ranging from who is friend, acquaintance or family, to who has immediate access to one’s daily experiences and thoughts, to who might interact with us at work, who is church and who is blocked.

    Amongst Anabaptists, one of the more compelling problems is that of definitions and groupings.  The two sides in the former Evangelical versus non-Evangelical divide have diverged greatly since the 1950s and even more so since the 1980s, but technology is bringing us together once more

    Oddly, a certain cultural affinity, and thankfully, toleration, continue to exist between the various identities within the greater Mennonite diaspora.  “Der Unza” remains a principle of assistance, mutual affection and inter-personal kindness.  Not insignificantly, those who still abide by “der Unza” seemingly tend to apply the same principles of kindness and care to most persons, regardless of ethnic status or church affiliation.  This is a strong commendation for this traditional Mennonite principle of networking.

Swartz's Legacy: Public Goods and Private Profits

Aaron Swartz courtesy London Guardian

en Eenhaundel 

 Of increasing concern to the Internet Generations has been the conflict between the rights of the individual and protection of the public or communal good against the means and goals of private enterprise (a wealthy few) to benefit from manipulation of the individual and exploitation of public resources.  Far from being a new fad or youthful preoccupation, this is merely the latest battle between privilege and the profit of the few against the common rights and dignity of the individual and recognition of the shared access to and interest in the common good.  The only difference between the Internet cultural conflicts of the early 21^st Century and struggles against religious oppression and royal prerogative in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries, and between the individual and Big Business in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries  is the public resource over which the battles are being fought.

    Reminiscent of former struggles against Borgia Popes or against the censors of l’ancien regime, the last two months have witnessed seemingly excessive efforts on the part of United States Feds to exert the full might, power and authority of their government against the lives and ideals of two rather ordinary young men on behalf of American Big Business interests in the media, culture and formal economy.  These youth represent a sort of Robin Hood versus the ‘Man’ in the complicated but lucrative world of the modern Internet.  Both stories have, however, come to rather different conclusions – one malféant being forgiven and the other hopelessly determining to end an extremely promising and rather gifted life in suicide.