Page 338 - Culture Technology Communication

Global Culture, Local Cultures, and the Internet 321

matters, especially local and national politics, dominate the discus-
sion. As the Internet is really a form of the media, and in Thailand it
has been heavily promoted that way, it is an open to the world at
large, where, to paraphrase Marshall McLuhan, one can extend
one’s senses far from what is normally possible. One can perceive
what is going on in far corners of the world in an instant, and one
can feel as though one is bodily transported to the remote regions
with whom one is interacting.
What comes naturally from such a scenario is that there are
bound to be comparisons between what one perceives in the far cor-
ners and in the local areas around oneself. When one sees in the far
corners what one believes to be good for one’s own locality, it is nat-
ural to suppose that there are going to be changes in the latter.
Richard Rorty argues that the process is what actually lies behind
the universalist rhetoric claiming for a common morality and social
norms for all mankind. This process of changes in one’s locality as a
result of one’s perception of other regions, according to Rorty, should
not be taken to imply that there is a universal ethics at work. Rorty’s
naturalism would make such ethics redundant. What is really the
case is that some people just want to live like others. Thus, instead
of a universal consciousness that this is the right way to live, Rorty
claims that there is “solidarity” for mankind (1989, 1991). Hence,
when a Thai Internet surfer sees what is going on in another region
of the globe which she believes would be good for her own country, be
it the strict enforcement of the law, open democracy, human rights,
or so on, she wants to be a part of the community that she finds ac-
ceptable. Since she can decide freely on her own, there is no need for
her to change her own cultural identity. She can remain Thai while
embracing all these political and social ideals. That is to say, she can
enjoy Thai food and Thai music while struggling for a more open de-
mocracy in Thailand at the same time.
Thus the Internet and local cultures both determine each other.
While the Internet is a window to the world where influences can be
received, the content of the Internet is obviously determined by what
is posted or uploaded to interconnected computers. The information
available shows that cultural groups are as separated from one an-
other as they are in the outside world. The cultural fault lines, so to
speak, stay roughly the same. An outsider would feel as much lost in
the cyberspace of SCT as they would be when dropped in the midst
of a Thai town. According to Carey’s ritual view, communication is
one of the rituals of a culture that give it its uniqueness, its being.
Hence communication in SCT could be seen as one of the rituals that