[Air-l] AoIR conference venues

[Charlie Breindahl]

> I fully concur with Dr. Wu. Why is it that every
> person on the planet (except Canadians and Mexicans
> who are not crooks) has to be fingerprinted by the
> FBI? Is it because Canadians and Mexicans are more
> honest? Or, is it because these two countries border
> the U.S. of A. and are no threat whatsoever? In light
> of this, I think the AoIR conference should be held
> anywhere but the US.
> 
> Peter Jakubowicz
> The Chinese University of Hong Kong

I think that the discussion so far has framed the issue as being aligned
with the digital divide between internet "have and have-not" countries
(Mexico possibly excepted). I am not sure this is the case. Many Europeans
are uncomfortable with current US politics as well.

It has not gone unnoticed that the present US government refers to European
hesitance towards the US policy in Iraq in less than flattering terms. We
Europeans sometimes find it hard to understand why the US government would
expect its friends in Europe to go to war in Iraq for reasons that seem
somewhat dubious (weapons of mass destruction, etc.) and simultaneously
tutor us about how to avoid terrorism and further democracy in the world. 

Subjects like nationalism, terrorism, fundamentalist beliefs, and
democracracy versus security have unfortunately been part of the political
agenda in Europe since the early seventies. Examples include, but are not
limited to, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Basque separatist
organization ETA, the German Baader-Meinhof group, the Italian Red Brigades,
the November 17 group in Greece, German nationalist skinheads, etc. We have
- unfortunately - a great deal of experience in treating such problems. The
present US government acts as if terrorism was a new problem predominantly
concerning the US. 

All this is background and only periferally relevant to the question of AoIR
conference locations. What really matters is this: I don't feel comfortable
about going to the US anymore. I feel that my personal security is
threatened and my dignity is violated in ways that are probably hard to
understand if you are a US national. Electronic fingerprints that go to vast
registers, rampant collection of information on foreign travellers, suspects
held captive for undetermined periods of time, political radicals killed
with remotely controlled missiles, electronic conversations monitored
automatically and recorded routinely, credit card transactions traced at a
whim... it gives me the creeps! It is directly against my beliefs about the
information age and all that I have taught my students about information
policy. 

I think it is very real and has very little to do with hysterics.

With regrets,
Charlie
--
Charlie Breindahl
External Lecturer
Department of Media, Cognition, and Communication 
Division of Film and Media Studies
University of Copenhagen

Web:    http://staff.hum.ku.dk/hitch/
Phone:  +45 35 32 81 14
Mobile: +45 51 92 15 98
E-mail: hitch at hum.ku.dk

"For the modern Don Quixote, the windmills have been preprogrammed to turn
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