American citizens have long distrusted the federal government, and I believe the internet has made it even easier to be skeptical. Because the internet makes it possible for any person to post any thing at any time, it’s easy to see why immense amounts of informations pertaining to our government’s actions is easy to access. It’s no secret that the government regularly hides many of their actions from the American people, but hopefully the internet will make it easier to uncover these actions.
There is an increasing gap between what our government tells us is true and what is actually truth. They make up reasons for going to war (The Bush Administrations claims of weapons of mass distruction in Iraq) and fail to reveal the real reasons. They use propaganda and the media to give the illusion of success (the toppling at the Palestine hotel) to make citizens believe the end of the war, when really it is just the beggining. Because the news media seems to be more interested in covering these topics before another news outlet, they are working too quickly and easily overlook major attributes of these stories, failing to be the watchdogs they are supposed to be. So if the media is failing to truly hold our government accountable, who will?
It seems to me that the best solution is for the American people to fullfill this role. If the media isn’t going to circulate factual information about the misdeeds of our government, then it is the duty of informed citizens to spread the word. The internet needs to be the channel to get the word out to the people. If the Egyptians can use the internet to overturn a corrupt government, then why can’t Americans?