Has the Internet made politics worse?
Yes, I know it might seem ironic posting this on an Internet message board, but this question is something that I have been thinking about a lot since the whole "fake news" issue exploded. I used to think that the Internet was going to create a more informed population and a better kind of politics but this recent election seems to put a big dent in that argument. Here are the two big problems:
1. The Internet makes it easier to spread fake news. You not only have conspiracy theorists acting on their own but you also have people who create fake news for profit. Fake news seems to help the Republicans more than the Democrats as liberals are less likely to believe fake news. From an interview with a fake-news creator:
When did you notice that fake news does best with Trump supporters?
Well, this isn't just a Trump-supporter problem. This is a right-wing issue. Sarah Palin's famous blasting of the lamestream media is kind of record and testament to the rise of these kinds of people. The post-fact era is what I would refer to it as. This isn't something that started with Trump. This is something that's been in the works for a while. His whole campaign was this thing of discrediting mainstream media sources, which is one of those dog whistles to his supporters. When we were coming up with headlines it's always kind of about the red meat. Trump really got into the red meat. He knew who his base was. He knew how to feed them a constant diet of this red meat.
We've tried to do similar things to liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You'll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.
See: http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/23/503146770/npr-finds-the-head-of-a-covert-fake-news-operation-in-the-suburbs
2. The Internet makes it much easier to stay in an ideological bubble. Now of course we expect people to gravitate toward sources that agree with their own ideology, but the rise of the Internet has made it much easier for people to NEVER leave their bubble. Even Fox News sometimes has liberal guests on their shows. Now with the Internet it is much easier to pick and choose which sources you want to consume without ever engaging an opposing viewpoint. This fuels the prejudices people already have.
On the other hand, you could argue that the trend toward the "post-truth" era was already there with right-wing talk radio and cable news and that the Internet simply added a new layer onto the problem. And there are legitimate issues with the establishment media (see the lead-up to the Iraq War) that make me sympathetic to people who view the MSM as untrustworthy.
But I wonder if the rise of the Internet and social media is making things even worse, sort of a jumping from the frying pan into the fire situation. I am not even getting into the troll/harassment issue, but you could also add that to the discussion if you want.
Your thoughts?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Many more channels to support radicalism and confirmation bias and very little if any screening to protect the vulnerable.
