Broadband, broad mind

Broadband Internet really opened up my mind to the world. Well, yes.. dial-up Internet also did that thing but broadband took the whole experience a little bit further. I came in late into various technological advancements. When people were starting to use dial-up, I frequent the cybercafés. When people moved to Windows XP, I was still using Windows 98 for 2 more years (I still haven't touched Windows Vista). When people were crazy about Streamyx, I was happilly chugging away with my 56K Jaring account. Most people wouldn't believe all this stuff but that is what it really is.

As you might know, my Cyberjaya home was just fitted with Streamyx connection 2 weeks ago and I admit that I'm still am very much excited over it, trying all these technologies I missed out like torrents and what not but there's one particular thing that really amaze me: Youtube.

I used to loathe video websites, firstly because with dial-up, a 5 minute video took half and hour to load and the other reason is most of it are rubbish; videos of people dancing to Gaban, a video of a kid making a fool out of himself and well.. you know what I mean. Nevertheless, the more I delve into YouTube, the more I discovered that instead of just fun and entertainment, some people are utilizing it as a method of critical forum.. which is becoming rarer these days even in newspapers.

So what does that mean, critical forum? Well, it is where a certain media is used as a forum to debate, discuss and argue a certain issue or point of view. This thing thrive on YouTube! Uncensored! How cool can that be? For example I love this series by Baba Ali called UmmahFilms which basically talks about Islam and reminding Muslims in a interesting kind of way. As Islam is a hot topic these days, many people would give their comment on the video and the best part is that we get other people doing their own videos to argue with Baba Ali. The same also happen to William Sledd, the guy behind Ask A Gay Man fashion videos and various other videos. I don't know about you but to me, that is really cool! You get all this interesting ideas from all sorts of people and it really broadens the mind.

Admitedly however, some of the comments are silly. Some people are just ignorant. They give out stupid comments just because they hate gay people or because they see on TV that Muslims are terrorist. Heck, I think most of them don't even see the videos before commenting. But try loooking at the video replies in the Related area, those are the gems I love about YouTube. There's always a good and bad side of every media, let's be optimistic about it.

So folks, I urge you to go serious sometimes. It's okay to watch those silly silly videos, I do too but let's not forget about other great stuff the Information Age have to offer. Afterall, YouTube is the Woodstock of our generation right?

Labels: media