50) Technological Logistics

The Wikileaks leak of classified war documents has already drew harsh fire from American military commanders, who stress that this new slew of information is actively endangering lives. The other side claims it's a matter of principle: to use the first amendment to give Americans a new perspective on a war that they no longer want.

But at what price? Is this new perspective really worth the potential risk in human lives?

This is easily turning into the biggest leak of government documents only because social media has changed the fabric of what information is. It is no longer feasible to keep documents locked up in a safe under your desk when you could just scan them and put them on a computer.

Nevertheless, this has turned into another PR fiasco for the United States government. If you can leak documents that could kill lives overseas, then you can also endanger the public here at home. What other secrets are waiting to be leaked? Nuclear missiles under our houses? Terrorist cells operating everywhere? Leave it to Wikileaks to lead the way.

Paranoid speculation aside, this all brings up the clash of Young vs. the Old when it comes to technology. The Old white Caucasian leaders of our government (with the racially hypersensitive exception of Obama) are struggling to integrate themselves and understand a technology driven society that they have no control over. It seems that they have no inking of just how powerful the internet really is.

The Young, however, know exactly what to do and how to do it. They know how to navigate the information highway in ways most people can't even explain. They have a sixth sense that propels them to use technology to no end, immersing themselves into a world of shorthand grammar and internet memes.

The two sides love to clash, like the recent and developing fight between the Oregon Tea Party and the internet group Anonymous. The Tea Party used the Anonymous slogan, casting off a fight that can easily be won by the internet savvy side. Perhaps my words can't help you understand the gravity of this situation, so let me fill you in on some backstory.

Anonymous started on numerous websites, a group of internet vigilantes most highly associated with 4chan, the largest English picture board website devoted to images of every caliber imaginable: food, anime, Pokemon, porn, gore, anime porn, and finally, the legendary random board /b/.

People post pictures one after another in a series of topic threads, an internet subculture that utilizes words and methods newcomers will NEVER understand. The societal conversation that takes place is completely foreign to internet virgins, and it takes years to master the language and the motivations behind it.

Anonymous is a lose group of hackers and Guy Fawkes mask wearers that have a track record of bringing down Hal Turner, nearly destroying the Church of Scientology, and was responsible for Youtube Porn day. Nobody knows how many they number in, but if you are online, they WILL bring you down, for reasons you might never understand.

Computer literacy is the newest terror tactic of this era. You either know it or you don't, and it will drive you in this decade to the next. Regardless of age, you can either become a Young or an Old, each bringing its own benefits and drawbacks.

Which is why its very feasible to assume that the Oregon Tea Party is jealous of the terror tactics of Anonymous, and their subsequent success in instilling fear upon its victims.

I prefer to be on the Young side, because if Anonymous takes this blog down, I'll at least have the satisfaction of knowing why.

That's worth something in this brave new world.