[When redoing this site, I decided to not blog about politics. I need to make an exception today because there is a serious issue that needs to be made aware of.]
You know, there are some people who just don’t get it. The Internet Thing that is.
Some people don’t get it because they are old. Like 100 years old or something. Some people don’t get it because they don’t need it. Like those living on the moon or something. And some people don’t get it because they are politicians. Like Hans-Christian Ströbele, Wolfgang Schäuble, or Lutz Heilmann.1
Hans-Christian Ströbele doesn’t own a computer at all2 and Wolfgang Schäuble thinks the Internet is solely a place for terrorists and other public enemies to hang out and share their plans for world domination. And now Lutz Heilmann. Dear lord, where should I start? This week he forced the German chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation by means of a restraining order to take down the redirection from wikipedia.de to de.wikipedia.org because his Wikipedia article contains facts about his past that he contests.
He must be joking, right? Taking down the link brings him nothing but mock and malice. The redirection is gone but the article is still there and will be there forever and the news about Heilmann’s silliness is in all tubes today. So he gained nothing and ridiculed himself to no avail, because he doesn’t get it.
And guess what? Those people are leading the country I’m living in. They are in charge of our future. Some people rely on them to fight global warming, the financial crisis, fix the education system, and maintain the democracy. And all that without them understanding a major portion of the mass media. Won’t work.