The title for my blog post is a mix of topics that
oddly connects via Twitter. It’s hard to
believe this post transpired from only 140 characters, which is the current
limit for tweets. I’m surprised I even
saw Alex Fayman’s tweet about his Science Fiction book, Superhighway, considering tweets fly by in seconds. His story caught my attention—the present day
hero travels everywhere via the internet.
The very thought of never having to stand in a long airport TSA line was
intriguing. I grabbed a free copy of Superhighway on Amazon, just minutes
before the promo ended, and then skipped over to his blog. Now I know why my blog about Soviet KGB defector Sergei Kourdakov is no longer
read in Russia. Even more important than
that is the fact that we have freedom of information in the U.S. It is something we should never take for
granted.
With Dr. Fayman’s permission, I have printed his post
below:
Over
the past few years, U.S. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been lobbying
Congress for leverage over the speed of data flow. Meanwhile, Russia blocked
its people from many Western websites altogether. The forbidden content is called propaganda to
discredit the news outlets and to justify the action. The goal is to keep those outside of the
Kremlin walls separated from the truth. U.S.
ISP issues and the Russian data blockade are obviously on the opposite sides of
the censorship scale. Allowing ISPs to
favor certain clients for profit is a long way from a government controlling
the substance of the information.
I
had the benefit of studying World History in the 5th grade, when my family was
still in the former Soviet Union. Luckily,
I got another look at the topic in the 8th grade, after we immigrated to the
United States. Hearing World War 2
taught in a Los Angeles classroom left me dumbfounded. The Soviet version framed U.S. as a country on
the sidelines. The evil Americans waited
to see which side tipped the military scales before joining Russia when it
finally demonstrated supremacy over the Nazis. Of course, in the Soviet classroom, I never
heard of Pearl Harbor. There was no
discussion about American isolationism. Who
wants to send their kids to fight a war on another continent? I remember my surprise learning that Japan,
Germany’s ally, pulled U.S. into the war with a foolishly brazen attack in
Hawaii.
A
small twist of the tongue in a country’s history books, and generations are
sentenced to ignorance. The freedom of
information needs to be protected. The
entire apparatus that manufactures and disseminates news is the lifeblood of a
healthy democracy. Clearly, defending a
foreign leader accused of killing a journalist is a step in the opposite
direction.—Alex Fayman
* * *
Author Bio: Alex Fayman
was born in the former Soviet Union. His
family immigrated to the United States in 1989 when he was twelve years
old. He grew up in Los Angeles and
completed undergraduate and graduate studies in Illinois. Alex holds a PhD in finance and enjoys
teaching and publishing research at a university. He is happily married and has three sons.
Superhighway
is about Alex Fine, a gifted eighteen-year-old with an extraordinary ability to
transport himself through the optical passageways of the Internet. While inside the digital web, Alex is capable
of downloading databases, manipulating archived data, and traveling to any
destination in the world. In a short
period of time, Alex Fine becomes one of the richest people in the world, with
virtually limitless power. It is the
story of a young man who wants to use his powers for good, but makes mistakes
en route to discovering the truth behind his supernatural abilities.
* * *
Superhighway
is a great Sci-Fi Fantasy read which I highly recommend.
I give it 5 Stars!—K. Kidd
Follow
On Twitter
@KKiddAuthor
@AlexFayman
No comments:
Post a Comment