10 November, 2005

E democracy

It's funny how all these people get together to discuss things all intellectuals of a sort and there's me. Sitting in a room with them trying to understand what's going on and sometimes I do sometimes I don't. What I think is funny and really puts a smile on my face is the people from the Hansard society who are so welcoming especially Millica who's got this glint in her eye and you know she has something up her sleeve. So in I walk in, sit down and then I know I am going to be asked to speak. I smile and think wow all these people that are sat listening. Who probably have more brains in their little toe than I have in my head but somehow as always I say something which seems to be okay. The funny thing is they all seem to know me through reading my blog. The reality of it all seems to strike home and then I suddenly know what all these meeting and my blog are all about. It's about democracy and the freedom to say what I want on equal terms. It doesn't matter that I am using a new form of technology to convey what I am saying although I do believe that's what this meeting was about. I believe we should all have the freedom to choose whether we should or not use it. It is the new way of assimilating data and having contact and it is steadily being used more and more in daily life. The big question is should we embrace it or should we err on the side of caution as we all know big brother is probably just around the corner. So for me the E stands for equal not electronic and democracy is the freedom of choice.

2 comments:

womble said...

Hey, Jamie. Don't do yourself down! It's not about brains, it's about common sense, passion, belief and so on. You have those in buckets as well as brains. I've met people who are extremely 'intelligent' but almost unable to understand the life of an ordinary person, how they think, what they worry about.

You carry on doing what you're doing. Let 'them' worry about you!

Anonymous said...

Jamie - It was a delight to meet you at that e-Democracy conference yesterday. You've become very well-known to many people working in the field. I've blogged about it on www.maryreid.org.uk.