The internet isn't killing our culture. It is part of keeping our culture alive, as our traditions and behaviour are recorded on the Internet via pictures, websites and blogs. Not only are the representations of a culture available to us, they are available to everyone, so that other cultures may learn about our own, widening their knowledge. There are even examples of people storing our culture on the internet, as many have scanned through or copied material from books that may no longer be in existance, or are in short supply, but now will be preserved forever on databases and websites for all to see.
The Internet widens our knowledge, and if we really desire, our intelligence. We can look up information on almost anything, but it's up to the individual if they retain the information and put it to use. We can even share our own knowledge, and teach others. A good example is students researching information- such as for this debate. I doubt anyone could have come up with a clear and structured argument without the information provided by the internet. One of my team mates even posted this debate up on Facebook, and recieved smart and valid responses which aided her in her research.
Culture was already suffering before the internet came along. Is the death of the crappy sitcoms, bad Hollywoood movies and such, bad? I say power to the normal enthusiastic people creating amateur videos like the furby in the microwave. There’s going to be at least one person who learned a valuable lesson from it. If it's what people want to watch, why should we see it as a negative? I know I thought it was hilarious.
I found a person on a blog say "If the internet ever kills the video star, it’s only because he knocked off the radio star first." It's natural media evolution, this era's particular trend, and if it doesn't work out, things will change- though not necessarily to the way it was before the net.
This supposed cultural panic happens every time new technology comes out, an example being Sousa on the Menace of the Phonograph, where he claims "I foresee a marked deterioration in American music, and musical taste, an interruption in the musical development of the country", showing the rising panic in a new form of technology all the way back to 1906. We handled that new technology just fine, and even developed it- this cultural panic is mostly something to be ignored by those of us who are more able to adapt to new cultural changes, leaving those who are unable to stew in their own superfluous hysteria.
Another in the group used the analogy of the development of the farming industry to aid the example of technological development. She said that farmers use to have horses and ploughs doing all the work, taking a long time to achieve little. These days, the farmers have mechanical help such as JCB's, and get everything done at a better quality, and much faster. Her point was that this is a development just like anything else, and it would be an unfair step backwards should we take that technology off the farmers and force them back into hard labour for no reason. This is the same for the internet- would we take the internet off of people, just because some few may not agree with it, and force the masses back into slower, and much more difficult research, for no good reason?
Elitists spewing either stylized, biased, or commercial culture from a big black tower without possibility of revolt and no voice of dispute, is far more damaging than a democratized internet. The internet introduces a level playing field where we can all have a voice and shape the future culture to the way we want it.
