The disadvantages that the American Indians have are very clear. Everyone should be made aware of their huge lack of resources. It is easy to focus on yourself and forget about the struggles that they go through every day, but I think these struggles should be taken into consideration. The statement, “All Indians are rich,” is very negative and untrue. Putting ourselves in their shoes will really help us to understand what they are going through. The fact that these Indian reservations are unwanted by everyone else proves that they are not privileged. Indian reservations have a huge lack of infrastructure and telecommunications services. I think the efforts of the TDV to give Indian reservations access to the internet were very noble. They went through many hardships, such as property ownership and the issue of not being able to dig, but still found a way to make it work. The generous grant from Hewlett-Packard definitely made this project a lot more manageable. It was very remarkable of them to invest so much money into something that has been a huge problem for so long.
The American Indian’s hesitancy to this big change was very understandable and respectable. I could only imagine how difficult it must have been to try and get people who don’t know anything about the internet to agree to use it. I know it would be hard for me to explain something to someone that has become so second nature for me. It is almost hard to list the benefits of the internet because they are seemingly endless. The power of having access to so much knowledge is unbelievable. Looking at the situation from the American Indians' point of view, though, I guess I can see why they might not be so quick to start using the internet. They have lived for so many years without the internet and have grown accustomed to not having it, which makes a sudden move toward internet access one in which much consideration needed to be made. I am sure they wondered why they would even need to access the internet since they have been doing just fine without it.
I think the internet can either hide your identity or reveal it. I guess it just depends on what you define to be an “identity.” Some might say that facts about you, your life experiences, and your future goals make up your identity. Others might argue that an identity can only be truly seen in person. Meeting face-to-face with someone allows you get to know them on a deeper level. There is something about being in someone else’s presence that forms a bond that simply cannot be shared over the internet. This bond is what makes being away from someone you care about so difficult to bear. So, even though the internet is a wonderful source of knowledge a powerful step toward our future, I don’t think it will ever be able to mimic the bond shared between individuals when they are face-to-face with each other.
The American Indian’s hesitancy to this big change was very understandable and respectable. I could only imagine how difficult it must have been to try and get people who don’t know anything about the internet to agree to use it. I know it would be hard for me to explain something to someone that has become so second nature for me. It is almost hard to list the benefits of the internet because they are seemingly endless. The power of having access to so much knowledge is unbelievable. Looking at the situation from the American Indians' point of view, though, I guess I can see why they might not be so quick to start using the internet. They have lived for so many years without the internet and have grown accustomed to not having it, which makes a sudden move toward internet access one in which much consideration needed to be made. I am sure they wondered why they would even need to access the internet since they have been doing just fine without it.
I think the internet can either hide your identity or reveal it. I guess it just depends on what you define to be an “identity.” Some might say that facts about you, your life experiences, and your future goals make up your identity. Others might argue that an identity can only be truly seen in person. Meeting face-to-face with someone allows you get to know them on a deeper level. There is something about being in someone else’s presence that forms a bond that simply cannot be shared over the internet. This bond is what makes being away from someone you care about so difficult to bear. So, even though the internet is a wonderful source of knowledge a powerful step toward our future, I don’t think it will ever be able to mimic the bond shared between individuals when they are face-to-face with each other.