The Internet Is Absolute Democracy -- Be Very Afraid!

The Internet is the ultimate 21st Century Jeffersonian dream come true: an informed public with unlimited information making knowledgeable choices in a connected, 24/7, placeless society where we take what we want, when we want, on demand. So, why does the dream look more like a nightmare when 'General Motors' and 'bankruptcy' are used in the same sentence, when red state and blue state minds argue whether global warming and evolution are real, and a Texas governor talks about secession. What happened? Like Guttenberg's printing press, the Internet has created radically new opportunities and systems that have put us at the beginning of a seismic cultural shift -- and yet, something is terribly wrong.

If you are Bob Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, you are very concerned about the Internet and the negative effects it's having on our society. "Yes, the Internet is an extraordinary wealth of information and a radical cultural shift," says the 50 year-old professor. He's concerned about the Internet's corrosive impact on "the precarious nature of authority. It's potentially dangerous. It's a complete democratization of information where unverified knowledge is often the result of our own emotional state," he says. "Yes, we are well connected, if connected means having huge contact lists, tons of Facebook and Twitter pals, we certainly are well connected as never before in history." But, here's the irony of the Internet's unintended consequence he fears: "Our youth is growing up in a fragmented culture. We are not all feeding from the same cultural trough, a shared body of characters and stories that bonds us all together with common beliefs, goals and systems. Why can't we agree on anything?" asks Thompson. "We are fragmented like Los Angeles -- multiple communities in search of a center. Instead, we are linked together from enclosed cars and computer screens. We run the risk of having no sense of real authority. The result is anarchy." Okay, this is not what Jefferson had in mind.

No Luddite boomer, Bob Thompson was an early tech adopter, getting his first computer in 1984, a Datafox, he remembers fondly. Raised in Chicago's western suburbs, and a product of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University's graduate school, Thompson is a heavy Internet user and culturally curious explorer who, at one point, spent two hours a day for 30 months watching YouTube. The result: "It's like a garage sale, 99 percent is absolute garbage." And for pre-Interneters like himself, "the current Twitter boom is totally baffling -- reduced Haiku for idiots."

Thompson's main point is that, while the Internet looks like a connector, it is developing into a national disconnector. He maintains "Parents and schools used to be the source of information. Now it's the Internet." We're evolving into a Wikipedia world relying on user-generated information. Thompson continues, "It's like having user-generated surgery." Not what you ever want.

Thompson makes a compelling case. We do have unprecedented, unlimited and unverified information at our finger tips anytime we want. But isn't it more an illusion of knowledge based on excessive quantity, not quality?

We live in an expanding universe of unfiltered thought and information that results in vertical silos of public discourse with no horizontal connections between them. There are millions of monologues without any dialogue. It's pure democracy from a nation founded as a representative republic. In other words, chaos. Not good.

So, what's the antidote to this potentially Web-propelled chaos? There are many who will instinctively want tighter controls over the Internet, creating central order where none exists -- like China now tries, like all authoritarians try when they lose control over the populous. Very hard seeing how that works when the World Wide Web's very foundations are universal access and distribution of information and thought.

The answer lies with us, dear reader, the end users of this tsunamic information flow. It's about critical thinking, the ability to hear, see or read a story and ask -- what's the context, who's saying what, is the source reliable, what might be missing? What's the real who, what, how, when and why of the thing.

Critical thinking is currently not a priority in our education system even though it's the first line of defense and growth for any open society. It's the ability to seek the difference between causal and correlative facts. For instance, ice-cream consumption rises as the crime rate goes up in Chicago. Quite True. But is crime the cause of increased ice-cream sales, or do crime and ice-cream both rise only because it's summertime in Chicago? Got to know the difference to survive and thrive.

Critical thinking taught in our schools would make Thomas Jefferson very happy -- an informed public making knowledgeable choices no matter how unfiltered the flow of limitless information. It certainly helps next time you hear Obama is a Muslim, you get AIDS from shaking hands, or someone has weapons of mass destruction.

Comments

[SeanKennedy]

"He's concerned about the Internet's corrosive impact on "the precarious nature of authority. It's potentially dangerous.­"

This idea is what is potentially dangerous. I agree that it is bringing down the ability for authority to control information. But that is a good thing not a bad thing. Anyone who disagrees with this is asking to walk down the road of oppression, i.e. China. I encourage everyone to continue the free flow of information and thought, and continue to topple the balance of power into the hands of we the people. I think this guy is probably good friends with Jackie Chan.

[WorkingClass]

If you look for it you can find the truth on the internet. They wont tell you the truth in high school. And they never tell the truth on television. And nobody reads newspapers. We are all hard wired for critical thinking. But it takes practice weighing a against b and b against c. Unless you have access to higher education, the internet is the only place to practice critical thinking. Dont worry about the quality of information. We all learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. Unless we dont want to, in which case we remain ignorant regardless.

[historymatters]

"Critical thinking is currently not a priority in our education system even though it's the first line of defense and growth for any open society. It's the ability to seek the difference between causal and correlative facts...Cr­itical thinking taught in our schools would make Thomas Jefferson very happy -- an informed public making knowledgeable choices no matter how unfiltered the flow of limitless informatio­n..."

Yes, yes, yes! Critical thinking is key. This can not be overstated.

[HeevenSteven]

There have always been far too many people who stay "informed" only by listening to others--always sources of misinformation--and don't read or watch news for themselves. Ignorance is nothing new.

I'm not sure I that worried about a lack of "manufactured consent". I don't see that we don't still have that...It'­s often our problem by the way. Big cities used to have many more newspapers that they have now; seems we're returning to that model.

[larry278]

There was a popular bumper sticker in the 1960's that said, "Question Authority.­". Authority of all sorts is questioned 24/7. The questions will not stop. The answers of those who allege that they are in authority are lame. Authority has been found wanting. Planned progress has been shown to be nothing save atavistic anarchy.
There was a shortage of trust prior to 9/15/08. Trust has been as rare as hen's teeth since 9/15/08. There is no trust in the world. Trust is as rare as balm in Gilead(?). The world is treated to bombs in Gaza & Iraq. All sides in the world's disputes are armed & use bombs often.
The CW sort of authority is long gone. Often that sort of authority wasn't trusted.
We now have a large number of boluses of information. Some of it may be true. What remains of authority (as defined by CW) is under siege. The CW definition of authority is nothing but a quaint concept, nothing more. Power has replaced authority. Live with it or perish.

[KathDimmick]

...There is a balm in Gilead, To make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead, To heal the sin sick soul....