4 ms·
An older friend of mine made the observation that really before the few large news networks and papers in the last 40-50 years objective information that everyo
by Grimm1 6y ago
An older friend of mine made the observation that really before the few large news networks and papers in the last 40-50 years objective information that everyone roughly agreed upon was not the norm. Yellow journalism, hearsay and rumors dominated common conversation.
He observed that with the internet we're returning to what was this "normal" state with anybody being able to post something and gain widespread recognition, the difference of course being the rate at which this non-objective information travels and the better ability to weaponize it.
I think, after looking into it a bit more, I agree with him and that our period of fairly objective news and political information and the general consensus that brought was the anomaly. This raises the question then how do we as society re-learn to cope with that and filter out non objective information because clearly we're not doing so well with it now.
So, I don't think so much as it will die out as much as I think we need to develop abilities to separate wheat from chaff, stronger societal bullshit filters because truth will have a weaker signal.
- username90 6y agoHow much of that was the American propaganda machine doing its job to keep the western world united against communism? The change we are seeing could just be the end of the cold war leading to slow return to normal and not due to technology at all.
- Grimm1 6y agoI mean united news cycles predated the cold war and wasn't an isolated American phenomenon and I'm not talking about America but the world so I don't see how your opinion is relevant to the topic other than to stir the pot.
- coldpie 6y ago> I think, after looking into it a bit more, I agree with him and that our period of fairly objective news and political information and the general consensus that brought was the anomaly. This raises the question then how do we as society re-learn to cope with that and filter out non objective information because clearly we're not doing so well with it now. I don't know the answer, but my opinion is that we need to stop optimizing for views. I.e. kill the online advertising market. You can do your part by installing an ad blocker and paying for services you like with real money.
- yrimaxi 6y agoNostalgia for the days when the NYT and co. could lie the whole nation into some war (or rather the people who read the NYT).
- Grimm1 6y agoYour words not mine bud.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- pjc50 6y agoIt's remarkable how people have taken the NYT and others reporting what they were told over the Iraq war, where finding contradictory evidence was extremely hard, as a reason to go to far less reliable news sources.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- samatman 6y agoThe manufactured consensus of the mass media had some terrible failure modes. Perhaps it wasn't worth it. But it had a nice positive externality in creating a shared reality for people who otherwise didn't have much in common. We can all watch the landscape shatter into pocket, subcultural realities, and the fear of the other and general distrust is palpable. People are falling back on the old stalwarts: common ancestry and/or religious conviction. That, too, has advantages, but it comes with severe downsides.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]