Today, I was finishing the reading about "collective action"  in the Shirky book where it pondered the question - why 2002?  Why did VOTF form and collective action come together to call for reform in the Catholic Church in 2002 when the abuse of young boys had been occurring since the 1960s?  The book discusses the ease to share information and how it was easier to post blogs, send emails, and share newspaper articles in 2002 versus just ten years earlier in 1992 when another priest was accused and stood trial.

I absolutely agree with the logic, but it also made me think about another statement I often hear about the world being so much more violent now as opposed to 50 years ago.  I don't agree with this statement and I've often argued with people who've said it that we are only more aware of violence now because of the constant stream of news and information.  People were not subjected to the same amount of information 50 years ago so they did not know the extent of violence that was occurring.  The Civil Rights movement was happening 50 years ago and look at the violence that existed then.  I believe this is the same case as the example provided by Shirky above.  Our society has more information flowing now than ever before.  It doesn't mean the acts occurring the world are happening with more frequency, it's just means we are more aware of them.