6/4 Boyd

            The article “Truth is a virus: meme warfare and the billionaires for Bush (or Gore)” by Andrew Boyd is about the dawn of viral culture. Boyd takes the position that due to internet, information can easily spread, therefore people with money and power have greater influence than ever in this viral space. In fact, Boyd even called the spread of such information a virus, and the propagandist competition a viral warfare. What interested me the most is the notion that only people of status, wealth, and control has jurisdiction over these viruses. It reminded me of how only the middle to upper-class Vietnamese people had internet capabilities to participate in voting in the show Vietnamese Idol. Moreover, Boyd talks about how these viruses can mutate, but the mutation is often controlled within the boundaries of its core values. This also reflects how although some middle and upper-class Vietnamese people can vote, they are ultimately unable to determine the representation of their country, because it is outside of the core structure of the show Vietnamese Idol. And even if the idols themselves try to change the way the audience will vote, they are still bound by the jurisdiction of the people who control the show, much like how mutations of the virus are controlled by people who has power over the core message.