Zero tolerance

Hoaxes, Urban legends, Chain letters and Spam are among the persistent ills of the internet. Recently I have been receiving quite a bit of this "genre". In some occasions, I have responded somewhat bluntly. My apologies if I have hurt someone's feelings.

However, my concern with this kind of communication goes beyond plain irritation. As annoying as these mails are, in my eyes they signify a much deeper problem.

I think we all agree that participating in a democratic society requires accepting responsibility for your actions and words. When sharing information with the community, this means that you have reasonable basis to believe that this information is indeed true. Suppose I would call a few of my friends and tell them that I heard that so-and-so has been involved in criminal activity, and therefor should not be trusted with community funds. You would expect me to have hard evidence for this fact, or else would consider my actions severely unacceptable. Now, suppose that when considering several sites for our school, I circulated a rumour that a particular site is located above a unique geological formation, which guarantees us an oil well in our back yard, which would fund our school for the next 100 years. In this case, not only would you see my conduct as inappropriate, you would also politely suggest that I seek urgent help.

Why is it, that when we go into "cyber space", we let down all social and cognitive defences?
Do you really think that there are computer viruses which, when you say cheese, jump out of your computer and bite your nose?
Do you really think that Bill Gates has pledged to send you 240,00$ if you will but a sock on your ear?
And do you really think your kindergarten friend knows about a "serious deadly internet worm that spreads faster then light" but Ha'aretz, NY Times, and all the anti-virus companies haven't heard of?

Now, I know what some would respond: "What's the harm? I sent you some information. You judge it, and if you don't believe it, hit the delete key." Well, the same argument goes for all the "real world" examples I gave. Would you accept it there? Probably not. Because in the real world, if you say something, YOU are responsible for your words, not the receiver. Well, its time to realize - this is the real world too. The same norms apply here. The only difference is that verifying is much, much easier. Usually, a 5 minute trip to google or wikipedia would do*. Which means that you have absolutely no excuse for spreading disinformation and other junk.

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*: If you read Hebrew, Hanan Cohen's site is a useful place to go as well.

Last night Hadas & me went to see the new year born on Primrose hill. The site was amazing. Like a disney version of the opening scene of Blade Runner. The sky was clouded, and beneath our feet the city lights sprawled endlessly. The whole cityscape was sizzling and crackling in bursts of blue, red, green and white. Occasionally a rocket would go whining over our heads and explode in a spray of colours and smoke. In the distance the London eye was throbbing like a fluorescent heart, until at midnight it too exploded with interleaved circles of white fire, the size of a small hurricane. All around us were hundreds of people sipping champagne in delicate flutes, ignoring the biting wind, singing and snapping photos with their mobile phones.

About that incident in Meskha. Its not that I'm worried that the soldier that shot Gil Ma'smati will walk. I'm sure that he'll do his month. Who knows, maybe even his commander will keep him company. The thing is, he's really not to blame. I mean, he's a trained worrier. A semi-snipper, serving in the west bank. There's a good chance that he's acted simmilarly before, and was told that's the right thing to do. Ok, there's a thin line between A and B. Lines get very thin when you do long periods in the west bank.

We sent the kid there, we gave him a gun, we told him to use it whichever way he thinks would work - we don't want to know - just let us have our esspresso in peace. We should be on trial, not him.

Looks like rather than starting a blog-war, Pim has started a dai-blogue between Imshin and myself. I have this itch that we're stretching the boundaries of the genre a bit too far. I would have stopped at saying that I know for a fact how nice Pim is, and that although I know practically nothing about Imshin, she comes through her writing as a good soul. Should really stop there before it gets too sticky.

But then Imshin sounded like she had one of those moments we all have. So I just thought I'd say:

You know, neither wolves nor sheep are free. Wolves must hunt, sheep must be hunted. Humans can be free. We can choose to be a vegetarian wolf or a ferocious lamb. Choosing not to inflict pain does not mean you chose to let others inflict it on you. In the end of the day, all humans want the same things: health, love, sufficient means of survival, a future for our children. I choose to provide these essentials to myself, I choose not to deny them from others.

And about influencing others. You know, that incident in Mescha - I truly believe that such an event could not have happened in my regiment. Not because there aren't any simple-minded, trigger happy young soldiers in my regiment. Because there are enough honest men there. And the presence of an honest person inspires honesty in his / her surroundings. Nothing uber-spiritual here. Its just that you know you go back to the same tent with the same mates, and have you dark coffee with them, and then you have to look them in the eyes.

Besides, you have kids. You can't really believe that your goodness does not transcend.

To Blog or not to Blog? I keep reminding myself of William Gibson's words:

I've found blogging to be a low-impact activity, mildly narcotic and mostly quite convivial, but the thing I've most enjoyed about it is how it never fails to underline the fact that if I'm doing this I'm definitely not writing a novel – that is, if I'm still blogging, I'm definitely still on vacation.

Or, in my case - not writing my PhD. And the problem with the PhD is, if I have a keyboard, I'm not on vacation.

Oh well, just one little entry can't hurt..

J. is one of our close friends here in London. She helped us immensely when we were haphazardly organizing our move, even before she actually knew us. We've stayed friends since, though as often happens - never meet as much as we'd like. Celebrating Jewish holidays with their friends and family has become one of our family traditions.

On the 25th, at around 4pm, J.'s mother, Ruth, passed away, after battling cancer. I was always amazed by the spirit of hope Ruth inspired in her surroundings, throughout her battle with the illness. יהי זכרה ברוך (Ye'hee Zichra Baruch)

Yesterday Golani troops fired at protesters at a demonstration against the separation fence. Gil Na'amati, an Israeli citizen from Kibbutz Re'im in the Negev sustained serious wounds, while an American tourist was lightly hurt.

From my reading, it looks like the demonstration was not a very quite one. Still. Live amo? But the worst bit is the soldiers excuse: "we didn't know they were Israelis".