But first, I’m just going to say that yay, I’m back, it’s a new school year, and I’m already chewing off my toenails over the fact that I’m now in junior year and that junior year is The Year.

But I’ll lament about the horrors of grade 11 in some other post. Right now, I have a bigger issue to address.

One of the new classes that I am taking this year is Contemporary World Issues (hi, Mr. Spivey ) and our homework assignment over the weekend was the watch a 20 minute video from TED.com. If you don’t know what TED is then… ugh just read the About page here I’ll link it for you: click.

So yes, it’s an awesome place. It doesn’t get the attention that it should be getting. Think of it as a youtube with one, huge, very effective filter that screens out atrocious videos such as Joe Jonas dancing to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” in a tight black bodysuit. I mean really Joe Jonas, 1) you’re not a lady 2) you sure as hell are going to stay single after that monstrosity. But I digress. TED is full of great minds speaking out their ideas to the world – and the best thing is, it’s free! Or so they say. There is no such thing as a free lunch. But whatever, you don’t have to pay money.

******

THE POINT IS, for homework I had to watch a speech by edit: Larry Lessig and his speech was basically about why the copyright system in America right now is not as good as it seems. (The link to the speech is at the end of this post. So you’ll HAVE to read this before you can watch it! HA)

He says the copyright law stifles creativity. He says that it stifles the “Read-Write” culture of our generation and tries to turn it into a “Read-Only” culture. This is not to say that people can rip anything off and completely call it as their own, but people do have the right to “remix” their world. He says that the young generation – our generation – cannot be stifled because the “instinct” to use technology to express ourselves and our opinions about life and the world. We have the “instinct” to “remix” what we get in our lives and spit back out to the public.

Mr. Lessig is right. As part of the Next Generation (and I capitalize that because yes, I think we’re important, kthanks), I can definitely feel the oppression of the copyright law wherever I go in cyberspace. Am I being melodramatic? Probably, but in all seriousness, our generation does have the “instinct” to “remix” our world. Pop culture is thrown at our faces in the form of magazines, TV shows, commercials, internet sites, and ads, why can’t we take it and throw it right back? What’s wrong with “remixing”?

The “remixing” of the world can come in the form of anime music videos, parodies, video projects, amateur documentaries, music videos of characters of One Tree Hill kissing to Nickleback… anything. The “remixing” of the world by the Next Generation doesn’t have to be academic. It doesn’t have to be enlightening. It doesn’t even have to be classy. Actually, most of the time, it’s not really classy. But it’s important.What’s so important about the infestation of Naruto AMVs on youtube, the videos of failed dirt bike tricks to hardcore metal, or Joe Jonas dancing to “Single Ladies”?

It shows that we, as the youth, are interacting with each other. We are “participating” in the global culture. We are “writing” as well as “reading” culture, instead of, as the speaker said (seriously I’ll try to find his name ASAP), passively “only reading” the culture manufactured and doled out to us. The people who make videos shipping (definition here) their favorite Twilght characters, as moronic as they may be, are at least “participating” in the world around them. At least they are giving some sign of response that shows they know what’s going on in their lives. We cannot filter out this participation – either by law or by personal disdain – or else we would be making a “Read Only” culture all over again.

******

As most should know, Youtube is like a huge barrel of apples. Occasionally, there are a few really awesome apples (users), but more often than not you will run into an apple that is rotten, deformed, and ugly. Youtube is THE place for racist comments, for sexist criticisms, and for generally ignorant and slap-worthy remarks. But in a way, we kind of need that. We need someone to say something so stupid it evokes a response. By “participating” in the global community, the ignorant people are giving something for the better people of the world to care about and respond to.

I seriously don’t know if what I’m saying is making any sense right now. I kind of have a problem with expressing the ideas in my ahead precisely to the public. But hopefully, you catch my drift, and may be I’ll edit this post later if I find a better way to phrase my thoughts.

******

So this means that technically, I should thank Joe Jonas for his video because it shows that he is “participating” in our world, regardless of whether his participation is wanted. He is not only a figure of culture, but also a consumer, and more importantly, a builder of our culture as well. People like him are the people making our society a “Read-Write” culture, not a “Read-Only” one.

So I guess thank you to Mr. Lessig who made this speech in the first place, and thanks Mr. Spivey for assigning such inspiring and fun homework for CWI. I can only cross my fingers and hope that future assignments are as easy as this one was. (But I already get the feeling that my chances are looking bleak. Ugh.)

– JANE