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Local actions can produce global reactions

There was a time when the world was a very large place, composed of many very small geographical, political and social regions.

Although you first-and-foremost lived in "your neighbourhood", you also lived in "your town" then "your country" and ultimately, "the world".

The internet has completely changed the way we consider what's local and what's not.

Like most people these days, and unlike the generation that preceded me, I have dozens of friends who I've never actually met and who live all over the world. In fact I have more friends outside NZ than inside -- all thanks to the Net.

I know most of these people better than the people who live just 20m away, over the fence that runs along-side this house.

The concept of "local" is one that, in the cyberworld, simply does not exist any more. In fact, the entire wold has become your neighbourhood, thanks to the Net.

And, I suspect, that can become a real issue for those who seek to exert their right to wield "local authority", in geographical and legislative terms.

This morning both of my mailboxes contained hundreds of emails voicing their support on an issue that has recently cropped up. These emails come from people in this town, in this country but mostly, from all over the world.

These emails pertain to an issue that involves the actions of a body which has authority to order diktats within the geographical and legislative confines of NZ.

The unfortunate thing is that although this body has the monopoly power to control what goes on within a very small sector of activity within NZ, the effect of exercising that control in a manner that usurps the principles of natural justice will have a global effect with the potential to upset a huge number of people all over the world -- because of the internet.

I'm being deliberately non-specific here because I'm hoping this issue won't turn into a giant shirt-storm of global proportions -- but if it's not resolved to the satisfaction of all parties (including many, many thousands of non-locals, it may become something of an eye-opener as to the risks faced by those who fail to realise that their "local" actions can have effects that span the globe and make large numbers of people most unhappy.

With this in mind, it becomes clear that any "authority", especially one charged with a responsibility to enhance or at least preserve the image of an activity or group of people, must think long and hard about the wider implications of the actions they may choose to take.

It's no longer possible to ignore the fact that this country is part of a much larger world and it is incredibly naive of any organisation to think that local actions won't produce global reactions -- perhaps of a magnitude that may surprise them and result in exactly the opposite outcome to that they claim to be attempting.

I fear that I'll be writing more about this situation in the days to come -- although I hope I won't be.

I've already answered over 100 of those emails in my inboxes, by suggesting that people, instead of venting their spleen in a knee-jerk reaction, have a little sit down and a cup of tea instead.

Unfortunately, they are not bound to accept my advice, although I hope the vast majority will -- at least until reasonable efforts have been made to resolve the issues involved.

I'm sure that some (perhaps including at least one regular Aardvark reader) might consider this to be a threat -- but in fact it is far from it. I really would like to see the issues underlying this situation resolved in a *fair* and reasonable manner and I certainly do not want a situation where immense harm may be done to that body and the sector it represents.

I just hope they wake up to the fact that it's not the 1970s and the effects of the "global neighbourhood" don't turn around and bite them on the arse.

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