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Ribbons, ribbons everywhere.

© Caroline Baker

If you've wandering on the Internet for any length of time, you will probably become familiar with "ribbon" campaigns. Basically, the ribbons represent support or awareness for a serious issue.

The key to the Internet society is being linked, physically together. Only if sites are linked to other sites, do folks find out the information. Thus, the criteria for these campaigns is to get their voice and their ribbons out there.

While it is good to feel strongly about a topic and display it, one should also be aware of the implications behind what those ribbons mean. In many ways, the Internet is more complex than the yellow ribbons for POV or the red ribbons for AIDS victims.

A classic example is the "Blue Ribbon for Free Speech." On initial look, I agreed with the premise of this campaign. Having a regulated system telling me what I can or can not publish online seems to go against my belief system in freedom of the press. But I have since reconsidered what that means as this same freedom means that folks portraying pornography or other abuse images have that same right.

http://www.growing.com/nonviolent/

Domestic Violence Project

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