As most people who know me will tell you, I'm a skeptic about the emancipatory power of technology, particularly information technology.  I am enough of a student of history to know that any time someone heralds the equalizing power of some communication revolution, it's usually a cover for its benefits being unevenly distributed, because society is unevenly distributed.  Thus, the more and more we proclaim the Internet as the new democracy, the more and more I fear that it may become a tool of our own domination. 

And of course, the contradiction for me is that I'm a huge geek, and love all these technologies in a totally un-selfconscious way.  I recognize the power they have, even the power they have over me, but I'm so enthralled with their power and potential that I sometimes lose sight of their social context.  When I saw this, from the Concord Music Group's Playing for Change series, I first got excited from the technological end--here were people all across the world, playing the same song!  But then I listened to the song, and watched the faces of the people playing it, and my geeky excitement faded, into rhythm and melody and joy.

Nothing changes, the world is still as dangerous and deluded as ever.  But for me, for a few minutes, light appeared in a shadowy crevice under my heart...hope it does something for you.