Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

The law is quite clear–John McCain is not eligible to president. The New York Times, in A Hint of New Life to a McCain Birth Issue, explains:

A law professor at the University of Arizona has concluded that neither Mr. McCain’s birth in 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone nor the fact that his parents were American citizens is enough to satisfy the constitutional requirement that the president must be a “natural-born citizen.”

The analysis, by Prof. Gabriel J. Chin, focused on a 1937 law that has been largely overlooked in the debate over Mr. McCain’s eligibility to be president. The law conferred citizenship on children of American parents born in the Canal Zone after 1904, and it made John McCain a citizen just before his first birthday. But the law came too late, Professor Chin argued, to make Mr. McCain a natural-born citizen.

Essentially, to become a “natural born citizen” you can either be born in the United States (John MCCain was born in the illegally occupied Canal Zone in Panama), or to be covered by a law enacted at the time of one’s birth. The law in effect when McCain was born would grant citizenship to babies born to American parents “out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States.” However, while the Canal zone was out of the limits of the United States, it was not out of the jurisdiction of the US.

However, in a statement to the AP, John McCain said:

Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona when it was a territory, Arizona was a territory, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court. And there’s no doubt about that. And it was researched again in 2000. It’s very clear that (the idea that) an American born in a territory of the United States whose father is serving in the military would not be eligible for the presidency of the United States is certainly not something our founding fathers envisioned. I am confident that the United States Supreme Court, should it ever address the issue, would agree.’

If John McCain can be president, then Arnold Schwarzenegger can run too. Of course he’s going to say it’s legal for him to become president, given he’s running. Is anyone interested in preventing him from gaining presidency using this legal technicality?

If you’ve ever bothered to read any of the comment threads on this site which extend over, say, 30 comments you’ll realize the internet is full of idiots. And not just idiots, but all the kinds of truly disgusting people you would rather not know exist. Take the recent highly-publicized example of blogger Kathy Sierra who claims to have been harassed by death threats (we’ll set aside the legal considerations of whether the material showed sufficient intent, even though she repeatedly claims without proof that the material broke “federal law”). She articulately makes the point that the mere creation of material this offensive shows a perversion of bloggers:

It really doesn’t make much difference whether the person intends to act on the threat… it’s the threat itself that inflicts the damage. It’s the threat that makes you question whether that “anonymous” person is as disturbed as their comments and pictures suggest.

The Wrong Reaction

We should be tempted to fall into despair, for human nature is evil. This is exactly what Robert Scoble has done, turning to blogo-Solipsism and taking a week off. Both strong emotional reactions and withdrawing from the blogosphere produce more harm than good. After all, if you’re affected by the cruelty present on the internet, hiding will only make it worse.

The Right Reaction

I usually read Shelly and wince, but she’s right on here:

Frankly, calmer heads are needed when responding to this event. Webloggers are not very good at maintaining perspective. I know, I’ve been one for too long.

This is not something new. People are irresponsible and rude in real life, and the situation is only exacerbated by the internet and the so-called shield of anonymity. We are living in the world of that metaphorical question “if you were invisible would you steal?”

The Irony

Seth Godin suggests that “Anonymity hasn’t made the web a better place. Instead, it has allowed some of the worst ideas ever to get published.” He’s almost right. While the Internet surely allows anonymous slanderers to publish the worst ideas that exist, those ideas are powerless without an audience. And, Kathy Sierra’s public tantrum today gave her attackers more audience than they could have ever hoped for. It’s interesting that by specifically decrying offensive material we draw more attention to it. Creators of hate speech don’t mind bad publicity.

Take It All Away

Still, taking away anonymity (Discouraging Anonymity is Key to Protecting Visibility) is not going to solve any of these problems. First, there is the wee technical problem that it’s totally impossible. Second, and more importantly, people will always exist for whom hate speech is a normal way of life. Only the broadest social reforms can decrease the incident of this kind of thought. You cannot police what people feel in their hearts, but over time you can mold it.

The Only Solution

Remember the racism of the 60s? I don’t, but having heard the stories, it’s quite obvious that incredible leaps have been made to bring black Americans to the same social acceptance level as their white counterparts. Even so, there still remains work to be done wherever racism, sexism, nepotism, ageism, etc are found.

That work will not be accomplished by stifling speech (that means you, Wordpress), but rather by changing the way we are educated, and therefore the way we think.

This video shows the execution of Saddam Hussein, convicted to death by hanging for his crimes against humanity. It doesn’t appear to be particularly graphic; the only clear parts show Saddam being placed on the gallows, yet the content may be unsafe for work or children:

The video was filmed by members of the guards who had smuggled in cell-phone cameras. Prosecutor Munkith al-Faroon threatened to stop the execution when observers began jeering, but did not, a PR mistake in hindsight.

Update: Apparently Saddam’s hanging has sparked a series of copycat suicides. I find it strange that children would copy anything they see on the internet; this is sad indeed that the death of a murderous dictator can affect the innocent.