You really have to admire that Luke Skywalker. Here's some dopey farm boy from Tattoine who suddenly has this great power thrust upon him and is destined to save the galaxy from the forces of evil. I mean lets face it, as far as super powers go, 'The Force' would be a pretty cool one to have. Pulling Jedi mind tricks in wookie brothels. Win the high jump competition at the Dagobah Olympics. Choking the life out of stormtroopers with the mere curving of your hand. Pretty cool tricks. But that's where you've got to admire old Luke. He could have used 'The Force' for his own benefit. Yanked the golden lingerie off of Princess Leia with a mere thought. But he didn't. Instead of succumbing to the infinite pleasures of the Dark Side he used his powers for good, God bless him. In numerous ways, I am very much like Luke Skywalker. Although instead of being known as Jedi Knight, I prefer the fabled moniker, "World-Renowned Web Columnist." 'The Force' may not exist in my world, but I do have something that is equally as powerful at my disposal. A little something called …'The Internet.'

Do you even realize the power I have at my fingertips? With a few mere keystrokes I am able to change the course of mighty rivers, become faster than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and I don't even wear a cape. I am harnessing the most powerful tool ever invented. The internet. As a world-renowned web columnist it is vitally important to understand that with great power comes great responsibility. Due to the rapid evolution of this mass media tool the internet has evolved into a 'reliable' source of information. It is an evolution that is equally scary as it is powerful. The world wide web has an audience of millions. Many of them former technophobes that now read anything found on the web and treat it as if it were the truth and can you really blame them? Television reports and newspaper articles reference websites as viable source material. Radio talk show hosts and disc jockeys fill their broadcasts with references to Yahoo! News and links from Fark.com. High school students are putting web links in their assignments bibliographies along side the archaic books that were once the standard in resource materials. There is a general conception amongst many people that if someone has taken the time to put information up on a website it has got to be true. How many times have you heard conversations about current events take this disturbing turn?

Gunter: Friggin' terrorists! I tells ya after 9/11 we should be going to town on those Middle Eastern bastards. Take em all out!

Wilbur: That's what they want you to believe. I heard it wasn't terrorists at all, that in fact there were aliens flying the planes.

Gunter: Aliens? What the hell are you talking about?

Wilbur: Read about it on a website last night. It's all a government conspiracy. Bush doesn't want us to know about the looming alien invasion so they blamed it on the Al Qaeda. They had pictures and everything.

Gunter: Wow, pictures eh? Hmmm…

Wilbur: Yeah! I forget what website it was, but it was there!

Gunter: That must be why the shuttle crashed then?! Aliens!

Wilbur: Yeah!

Gunter: We've got to get those friggin' aliens.

Far be it from me to say that propaganda only exists on the internet. Propaganda exists in various degrees in all forms of mass media. But the internet in particular is a horse of a different colour. Only on the internet can half assed rumours evolve into seemingly factual information in a matter of hours. All it takes is one startling, unfounded piece of information on a website that is suddenly carried from one site to another and grows and evolves into indisputable factual information. It's a lot like the phone game you used to play at summer camp. A circle of stupid, naïve kids whispering a sentence from ear to ear, only to have the final message in no way resemble the original sentence. Any information read on the web should be taken with a grain of salt.

Just because someone puts it on the web doesn't mean it's true. Except for the fact that BoldOpinion.com is probably the greatest website to ever exist in the history of the internet Purple monkey dishwasher.

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