At CES halls are filled with thousands of expensive computersystems, High definition TV's and ultra portable cellphones. At Macworld Steve Jobs talked about how "inconvenient" it is to use a modern day smartphone. Bush just asked for a whole lot of money to wage war against an unseen enemy and the RIAA sued allofmp3.com for the sum of a small Island. Meanwhile the modern day geek complains about his broadband speed. Heckles the fact that he cant transfer his funny movies from his Imac to his HDTV without having to downscale the resolution. How they are not seen as the true "blogger" they are or get frustrated about some comment somebody posted on Digg.
Meantime .. in the real world … a child crawls towards a foodcamp, fighting for its own survival .. while already being stalked by a hungry vulture. The irony ? If this where a scene from some playstation or Xbox game .. complaints would be flying around everywhere. But the kicker is : This is reality. And no one stands up against reality. I feel like I'm in the Matrix sometimes. Surrounded by technology and progress. Engulfed in a total immersing sensation of wellbeing, with only trivial artificial problems to keep my busy. Why won't my Ipod Sync, Who has the rights to enforce this DRM on this song.. How many downloads does my podcast have. All of this and more keep my focus away from the harsh reality that sits on the other end of the digital divide.
And as children like these die from hunger every single day … We congratulate ourselves on the back for giving them the 100 dollar laptop.