Chris Hedges: The Information Super-Sewer

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



The Information Super-Sewer

Posted on Feb 15, 2010
By Chris Hedges


The Internet has become one more tool hijacked by corporate interests to accelerate our cultural, political and economic decline. The great promise of the Internet, to open up dialogue, break down cultural barriers, promote democracy and unleash innovation and creativity, has been exposed as a scam. The Internet is dividing us into antagonistic clans, in which we chant the same slogans and hate the same enemies, while our creative work is handed for free to Web providers who use it as bait for advertising.

Ask journalists, photographers, musicians, cartoonists or artists what they think of the Web. Ask movie and film producers. Ask architects or engineers. The Web efficiently disseminates content, but it does not protect intellectual property rights. Writers and artists are increasingly unable to make a living. And technical professions are under heavy assault. Anything that can be digitized can and is being outsourced to countries such as India and China where wages are miserable and benefits nonexistent. Welcome to the new global serfdom where the only professions that pay a living wage are propaganda and corporate management.

The Web, at the same time it is destroying creative work, is forming anonymous crowds that vent collective rage, intolerance and bigotry. These virtual slums do not expand communication or dialogue. They do not enrich our culture. They create a herd mentality in which those who express empathy for “the enemy”—and the liberal class is as guilty of this as the right wing—are denounced by their fellow travelers for their impurity. Racism toward Muslims may be as evil as anti-Semitism, but try to express this simple truth on a partisan Palestinian or Israeli website.

Jaron Lanier, the “father of virtual reality technology,” in his new book “You Are Not a Gadget,” warns us of this frightening new collectivism. He notes that the habits imposed by the Internet have reconfigured how we relate to each other. He writes that “Web 2.0,” “Open Culture,” “Free Software” and the “Long Tail” have become enablers of this new collectivism. He cites Wikipedia, which consciously erases individual voices, and Google Wave as examples of the rise of mass collective thought and mass emotions. Google Wave is a new communication platform that permits users to edit what someone else has said in a conversation when it is displayed as well as allow collaborators to watch each other as they type. Privacy, honesty and self-reflection are instantly obliterated. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_information_super-sewer_20100214/

[ixion]

1. I think this is true for passive users

it doesn't have to be that way, if you're selective about how you choose to use the internet. But, yeah, it's somewhat dangerous to be a passive consumer. Although, that's true for the 'real' world, too. ;)

[ThomWV]

5. What is a "passive user"

I have no idea at all what that means.

[ixion]

7. people who aren't selective about what content gets pushed at them

you'd be surprised how many people don't think about the stuff that is being pushed at them. That is one of the reasons commercials are so effective.

[adamuu]

2. That stings, a little, but it's not totally true.

One breakthrough made possible by the internet is the crowdsourcing of research
For example, when someone suggests they have a Kenyan birth certificate, we tear it to pieces in under 24-hours
Without that, it might enter the news cycle for ... who knows how long before it is debunked.

[Solomon]

3. Just recently finished reading one of his books:

Empire of Illusion.

Very good and very scary. He's right on about how "truth" is manufactured. First get enough people to make noise about a "fact" (doesn't matter whether it's true or not) so that television recognizes it. Once tv recognizes it and reports on it, it becomes a "fact." Then get enough people to say they fervently believe in it (again, doesn't matter whether it's true or not) and then it becomes the "truth."

I see this happening everyday now.

[mmonk]

4. The internet is also a place where the truth can be spoken

without the filter of the corporate media. In a country that has lost journalism and is increasingly closed, that is one positive thing about the internet even if others or corporate interests use it to work against the common good.

[Odin2005]

6. Wow. He keeps getting more technophobic by the day.

Praise of You Are Not a Gadget = EPIC FAIL as far as I'm concerned. Hedges is going off the deep end.