Chaos Spreads

Chaos Spreads

Summary:

The American writer of this article takes the case of 3 young bloggers, arrested for allegedly using their websites to incite violence, to examine how we receive news today.

In the past the media and governments used to control news output but, with the internet, this has now changed.

Not only did the young French bloggers use the net to send inflammatory messages, but the French interior minister also took out Google adverts to portray the rioters as violent rabble and to encourage ordinary citizens to support his policy of rigorous suppression of the riots.

The author uses a French example but points out that this is now a worldwide phenomenon. Anyone can set up a blog to send out political massages; anyone can use a mobile to broadcast news and pictures as they happen.

Because he believes in free speech, the author believes the new technology is a good thing, even if it is sometimes used to encourage violence and crime.

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The main idea is that the way we receive news today has been transformed. In the past, news media and governments had some degree of control over what news was printed or broadcast. Today, however, with weblogs and mobile phones, people are creating and spreading news themselves.



Opinion:

I think the writer is correct to say that the new technology, specifically weblogs and mobile phones, is transforming the way we receive the news. I agree with the writer that the new technology is, overall, a good thing and I too believe in free speech. Obviously, however, it is bad when people use the new technology to incite riots and violence. Furthermore, if you access news sources online, it is difficult to avoid blogged comments on news stories. These blogs can be informative but I find they are often intrusive, grammatically flawed and, in short, irritating.

Junk food

Is this what you call junk food?

The British government wants to encourage children to abandon junk food and adopt healthier eating habits. Junk food is generally seen as any food high in fat, salt or sugar. But what exactly is junk food?

Some highly-respected and fashionable haute cuisine dishes are in fact more fatty than foods like McDonald’s notorious burgers and fries. There are also trendy burger restaurants which are, in reality, serving food which has more calories and fat than junk food outlets.

This false labeling applies not only to the names of food outlets, but also to the food itself. Pate de fois gras and roast potatoes are respectable items in upmarket restaurants but are just as fatty, even fattier, than so-called junk foods like burgers and fries.

The description junk food is thus applied selectively and misleadingly: perhaps we need new and more accurate ways to classify food.

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