Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 09:10:50 -0700
Subject: Response to Annapurna Re: Query


Annapurna M wrote:

> of lying safe in a little cocoon while your
> mind lives an active life without involving the body...
> isnt that what surfing is all about too...:)
> a.

Dear Annapurna,

I don't know if this is the right forum/list for this kind of
discussion, but I'm compelled to join in this particular discussion only
because I so *vehemently* disagree with the above statement.  

Those who "live in a cocoon" distanced from any personal/social/communal
involvement do so in very *physical* space:  witness rampant neglect,
abuse, etc. in so many "physical" spaces such as home, workplace,
community.  Surfing the 'net has allowed educated but *neglected* and
*marginalized* women, especially, an opportunity to have knowledge at
our fingertips, to be fully informed should we choose to be, rather than
be kept in the dark and ignorant because organizations strategically
withold information necessary for our very survival.  

Those of us women equally physically involved in our commmunities can
apply the information wisely and well to help our sisters all over the
world.  The Internet has been an empowering tool for such women and
their sisters.

My description of someone living in a "cocoon" would be anyone resistant
to change made possible by tools we create.  In the event of misuse or
inappropriate use of such tools by sociopaths, psycopaths, and tyrants,
a  very real fear, we simply must guard ourselves against them for they
are with us both physically and virtually.  Escaping oppression and
misuse requires concerted effort, strategy, alliance, and knowledge,
*not* less tools and thus less control over our environment and our very
lives.  

Manjusree Sen
Activist/Educator
Cambridge MA 
USA