I Am Bismark

i was trying hard to just let this be, but i can’t. the editorial on page 4 of yesterday’s edition of the daily unifarce about the youtube being blocked on campus was completely and totally insulting to all of us here on campus.

lets take a look at what was said.

“It’s revolutionary. Its influence has reached into almost every realm of American life. Type a word, any word, into the search search bar and you are sure to find a match, or thousands.”

oh hey, this youtube thing sounds pretty sweet.

“Two of the cultural institutions which this phenomenon threatens most have decided to embrace YouTube in an effort to thwart its potentially parasitic relationship to them.”

i am really not sure if this is meant to be a bad thing or what? so institutions like the media and the political realm are being shaken up and are now evolving along with advances in technology. ok….

“Weezer’s triumph in beating YouTube before YouTube could beat it indicates a shift in thinking: YouTube can be a tool rather than an enemy.”

beating youtube? i have no idea what you are talking about.. it sounds more like they made use of youtube to further spread their music.. evolving along with technology.. i am pretty sure means weezer is a smart band. do you realize how you are ultimately arguing against yourself here?

“YouTube is also a potential menace in the political realm.”

once again, this seems like a MAJOR PLUS in my mind. anything to shake things up politically is a good thing.

“The bottom line is that anyone can post anything, making YouTube a breeding ground for misinformation and hostility.”

really? i had no idea. i always thought that if i read/saw it online, then it must be true.

“misinformation… Many attribute the defeat of Republican Senator George Allen in 2006 to the heavy YouTube viewing during his campaign of a video clip of him making allegedly racist remarks.”

the fact that you followed up your misinformation sentence with this is well… i will let my readers draw conclusions from this obvious political bias.

“CNN hosted a series of debates in which presidential candidates for the 2008 election fielded questions submitted in video form. … [The debates] actively involved a wider range of constituents than ever before.”

once again, which side are you trying to argue here?

“At BYU, YouTube is more than just an obstacle to moneymaking or power-gaining.”

wait a second, are you trying to say that anything that gets in our way of making money or gaining power must be a bad thing? things like marriage, family, the Gospel, etc etc….

“YouTube is a threat to the inspiring, uplifting, productive, safe environment we now enjoy.”

ah, ok, you are finally getting to what i guess is the point of your article, though you have actively argued against this point up until now by telling me how great youtube is for giving us more knowledge, bringing power to the common man, and shaking up the establishment. i really think you need to retake your high school rhetoric class.

“YouTube’s terms of service forbid uploading material that may be considered inappropriate or defamatory, but the sheer volume of videos uploaded makes that policy difficult to enforce. It’s the nature of the beast.”

ah, so what you are saying is that youtube has the POSSIBILITY to be a “threat” to our environment. let see what else could possibly be a threat to our bubble-like “safe” environment… streakers… people with guns… someone driving by campus playing music with swear words… oh jeeze, now that i think about it, just about ANYTHING could possibly be a threat.

“..a student who accesses wholesome content on YouTube from an outside server will not be kicked out of BYU.”

ah, so what you are saying is that we are only concerned about POSSIBLE threats when its on campus.

“The titles of YouTube videos are sometimes misleading. Anyone could mistakenly open an obscene or even pornographic video.”

oh, so you mean like anything on the internet? like if hackers take over a perfectly good site and put up pornography? gosh, it sure seems like the current BYU filter is definitely not doing enough to stop these POSSIBLE threats!

“To have such content playing on a campus that has promised its students an environment of purity would be tragic.”

so what you are saying is that because its POSSIBLE that something bad might come through youtube, then we ought to just ban it all. i am really failing to see how you are justifying this position while still letting ANY of the internet be available on campus.

“…to adopt the “if you can’t beat YouTube, join it” attitude is to be cavalier with the values and virtues that BYU promised us and we promised BYU.”

which values and virtues were these again? obviously not the ones about seeking out good knowledge, seeking to empower the common man, and shaking up the establishment… perhaps you mean the virtues of money making, gaining power, and trying to control every aspect of a persons life? or maybe just being technologically impaired, backward and out of touch? i don’t think those were the virtues and values i proscribed to when i came to this institution.

this article was terrible, through and through. the person who wrote this ought to be ashamed of themselves. i know i am ashamed to have to admit that it was printed by my university’s newspaper.