Two American fears combined as one this week, with reports about a California teenager who (allegedly) published threats to kill classmates on Wikipedia. So the Wikipedia-is-evil meme connects with the post-Columbine fear of school shootings. We might well expect to see a renewed wave of interest, panic, and policymaking in response.
It could even be considered to be three anxieties in one, if we include worries about user-generated content. Teen media plus Columbine plus Wikipedia!
These types of incidents are so commonplace that they don't even draw national attention anymore.
After the initial reports came in 2 weeks ago, the only new "news" came from wikinews, which regurgitated what had been previously published.
I think that myspace has a much higher profile for this type of thing now.
Posted by: peter naegele | April 28, 2008 at 13:22