Rumors in the age of unreason

[Deckard]

A corollary of this, but more directly related to the original quote: does the internet encourage us to become more tribal than ever?

That would be the greatest irony, wouldn't it, given the opportunities now afforded people to hear and engage with such a multitude of views.

The fact that content from all the main British daily newspapers are currently free to anyone with an internet connection should have been revolutionary and a net gain for the most watertight arguments and positions and beliefs. And yet, it seems to have simply provided people with an easier way to cluster around one of two poles, and to support their team. If anything, the culture wars have amplified, and the teams have been galvanized. I don't sense much cross-pollination happening - I wonder if that means it's not?

I switch between feeling optimistic and pessimistic about the internet's role in improving democracies. Instinctively, the very notion of the internet should be a great thing for believers in democracy. A wonderful thing. But the downsides are impossible to ignore: reduced attention span... impersonalisation... an impoliteness that is accepted as inevitable ("It's the internet - get used to it" being the standard response - which is all well and good but what does that do for meaningful dialogue?) and of course the elevation of opinions and smears that don't warrant elevation.

Never mind. I'm going to take solace from the fact that a self-confessed misanthrope like Strangelet is able to be optimistic.