The global phenomenon-YouTube

Fan, Kang-Hsin
EAP2 WW
S/R #1
Mr. Leverett
March 31, 2008


Since YouTube was launched in February 2005, it has been banned by a number of countries such as China, Iran, Pakistan, and so on. Every country has different reasons for banning the site to shield themselves from the influence. In Pakistan, the religion and politics are the central elements to forbid the popular website. In China, they ban any of the audio-visual comment on the Internet that pollutes their mind and thought. In other words, the Chinese government is extremely easer to control the freedom of speech, avoiding people own much theories that destroy their basic principles of management. In Iran, the reason that the government forbids the Web site is the requested page.

In this article, it sheds light on the Internet-phenomenon YouTube. Every country has various reasons and rules to protect their national security from the Internet. The main factors of banning the site are religion and politics. In this way, foreign companies will pay more attention to overcome the impact and to balance the concept of culture. However, I do not agree that the best way is to ban YouTube from their province, because governments need to open more room for freedom for their people. There are three reasons to support my opinions: multicultural society, knowledge, and freedom.

The first to leap on the stage is to be a multicultural society: the first step to communicate with the world. Due to the advanced of technology, all of the countries which exist on the earth are channeled into a small village. If a county can receive diverse culture that comes from different access, it stands for the educational level of citizens. Therefore, YouTube is a suitable vessel. People will learn how to distinguish the difference in culture between themselves and others, to admire the advantages , and to respect the concept of culture. Although using a variety of resources on Internet is a common phenomenon around the world, some countries reject opening the door of advanced civilization.

With the culture, the knowledge that is derived from Internet is also the element to elevate the level of education. Expanding one’s own knowledge is better to begin with surfing on Internet. The Internet world is an abundant reservoir of encyclopedias that contains various fields such as science, architecture, education, finance, and so on. People can learn and supplement their understanding from YouTube, if school does not mention something. In poorer countries, for example, they do not have enough funding for education, library, or teachers. If they can freely employ those resources, knowledge will follow hard on the heel of surfing on Internet.

The last reason is freedom: a central point to advance the level of democracy.A true democracy allows freedom of speech and respects people’ willingness. If government can set a reasonable statement and allow access to release the right to a Web site, it means the country will be a well-developed nation. For instance, freedom stands for the advance of democracy, where citizens can express their theory, derive myriad information from the world, and display their opinions. Therefore, YouTube is a good stage to equal with the freedom of speech.

With the YouTube, people will broaden the horizon of International culture to become a multicultural society. With YouTube, people can easily absorb abundant knowledge to elevate the level of education. With the YouTube, people can freely express their theory to open a new chapter of democratic society. Following those significant ingredients, YouTube has become a suitable vessel to arrive at the goal.

Reference

Governments target internet-phenomenon YouTube (March 11, 2008). Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Lexis Nexis.