Blackmon's (Cyber)Conspiracy Theories

Within the first page I found some really interesting points in Blackmon's reading. One of her first big points is that the internet is complete with "cyber humans". A cyber human, as she described is a, "raceless, classless, sexless person in the virtual world." I find this completely false and unobtainable. She says that in order to achieve this status students need to become raceless in the real-world. They must ignore things that conflict with their real-world race. This is, quite simply, absurd to try and comprehend. We can ignore our individual race, but we can never ever become "raceless". 

   Some of her points make sense, especially when she speaks at the beginning of how important computers and access to the web are in this day and time. It's true, the availability of this technology is not only important in terms of future education, but also for future employment. A huge negative for a candidate would be the inability to make way on the internet, and with basic technology. 

   I just think it's a bit excessive how much she talks about African American's being misrepresented on the internet. I understand that many may not have access at home, but there are public libraries in every single city, as well as connection at schools. Because there may be more whites in a certain area then blacks, doesn't mean the ratio isn't similar. There is a huge amount of whites without connection in their own homes. Many of these kids don't get the latest laptop, cell phone, or tablet, just the same as other less fortunate races. Sure, some do but there are quite a bit that are just floating along in the "average" column. Going to their local library an evening here and there to get online, or using their time at school. 

   In my own home growing up, we were far from trendsetters in the technology area. We had dial-up connection that was so impossibly slow that my mom was the only one with e-mail because it couldn't handle more than that. I remember my first Juno e-mail account, then AOL, Yahoo, and finally Hotmail. My parents have yet to graduate to Wi-Fi, so back at home, there they are with one computer and 10 internet hungry users antsy for their turn to tune in.