Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 10:24:11 -0400
Subject: Re: Response to Annapurna Re: Query


this is as good a forum for this as any of the other lists.

more later,

r

At 09:10 AM 8/14/99 -0700, you wrote:
>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
>
http://www.cyberdiva.org
email: radhika-AT-cyberdiva.org