The Blathering Masses

I've become increasingly convinced that there are some disturbing trends that are fatal to civic dialogue in this country - both of which have been caused by the internet. Traditional journalism, with its processes and rules that have fact checking and verification is on its knees, not yet figuring out how to compete in the digital world. And in that space reputable reporting and credibility are being shouted down by the internet blogs; with demagoges, political bombthrowers with distortions or outright lies that whip the uninformed (ignorant?) masses into hysterical frenzies and complicate the public discussion.

We now have people steadfastly believing that Barack Obama was not born in the US, that new Medicare proposals are intended to encourage euthanasia, and a friend of mine subscribes to the goofy theory that 9/11 was a conspiracy of the US government(!)

In the past, the uneducated didn't have an alternative to newpapers - other than tv, which was fairly simplistic, but benign. Now, without any framework or context in which to place information (because they haven't been educated-don't read books or credible journalism) they have an information vacuum that's easily filled with distorted or false information.

______________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Managed Email Content Service, provided by Verizon Business.

NOTICE: This message, including all attachments transmitted with it, is for the use of the addressee only. It may contain proprietary, confidential and/or legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print or copy any part of this message. If you believe you have received this message in error, please delete it and all copies of it from your system and notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail. Thank you.