Not a luxury

I do not agree with Al Gore’s statement, “You know as well as I do that the Internet will never be a fixture in every home until parents have the tools they need to make it safe for their children's explorations.” He seems to think that the lack of the ability to block offensive content is what is preventing every household from having the internet. In the past twelve months an estimated 13.3 percent of the United States’ population was below the poverty level. (factfinder) A family is considered to be impoverished if their total income for the year is less than the threshold for that family. The threshold is determined by how much it costs to provide for the family in a year. (census) I think the main problem with getting every home in America online is not the lack of the appropriate filters or blocking software. I believe the main problem for this country is that more than one out of every ten families can not afford the internet in the first place.

Al Gore says that the internet is not a luxury but an essential tool for learning. I agree whole heartedly with that statement. The internet is a wonderful way to gain new knowledge about a wide variety of topics quickly. It is also a great way to connect with other individuals and to learn about many different viewpoints and ideas from others. The human population has been advancing exponentially in all areas and I believe that this is due to our ability to share and store knowledge. “The Internet allows our civilization to take a quantum leap forward, dramatically changing the way we relate to this rapidly growing amount of knowledge that's stored outside the brain and is accessible to people all over the world.” (Gore).

I think that the first step to helping the impoverished families of our nation is to provide them with the knowledge they need to go farther in life and make good decisions. The internet is where much information, media, and the exchange of ideas happens nowadays. The public sphere exists everywhere that the people can find to write, spread ideas, and share knowledge and opinions. I believe that the internet makes up a large part of the public sphere. Take our class for example, it is an online class. Without the internet this class would not even be taking place right now. Yes, I do believe that Al Gore has a noble cause with trying to make the internet safe for children. But I also believe that if he finds the internet so valuable that he should want to make the internet available to everyone so that everyone can benefit from it.


"M1701. Percent of People Below Poverty Level in the Past 12 Months (for Whom Poverty Status is Determined): 2006." U.S. Census Bureau. 27 June 2008 http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ThematicMapFramesetServlet?_bm=y&- geo_id=01000US&-tm_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_M00601&- ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-_MapEvent=displayBy&-_ dBy=040#?472,266.

"Poverty." U.S. Census Bureau. 28 Aug. 2007. 27 June 2008 .