3 ms·

yeah there's always been new takes on history and events but this was pre-internet. most western people get their info via internet, media, tv, podcasts, etc. i

yeah there's always been new takes on history and events but this was pre-internet. most western people get their info via internet, media, tv, podcasts, etc. i think we're in uncharted waters here and chalking it up to "its always been like this" is disingenuous. information distribution is becoming increasingly centralized and ran by a few corporations. the internet and smart phone era seems like a wet dream for propagandists.

tpm 4y ago
> information distribution is becoming increasingly centralized No, exactly the opposite. It was much much more centralized before the internet: you had one or two dominant TV channels with news in each country (mostly somehow state-operated), same with radio and a few big newspapers. And the institutions where deep knowledge was produced (mostly universities) also functioned as gatekeepers for knowledge, deciding what can be dispersed and who is worthy to receive it. Internet changed that: there are no gatekeepers and distribution is free. Anyone can write and distribute anything. Now actually grabbing attention of enough people to matter is a different issue and you are right this is a big problem. But it's a different one: before it was easier to control the history-writing and publishing at the source, now that's impossible and you have to control the attention of consumers. We are on Hacker News debating an article published by Lapham's Quarterly. No big corporation in sight.