I used to think the internet was one of the great inventions among fire, the wheel, and so on. But after watching twitter do its thing, I’m wondering if it wasn’t a big mistake.
Secularists always seem to say that, "ethics will need to catch up with the new technology," but it seems to me that in doing so, they are already excusing their intent to misuse or abuse it. People with strong moral principles tend to adopt new knowledge/technology to their core ethics. People without firm principles tend to adopt their ethics to the new tech.
Our culture was largely one of self-centeredness before social media. Social media is simply the garden and fertilizer that has cultivated it's growth beyond what anybody could have reasonably foreseen 20 years ago.
You can't have demand without supply. The Founders died for, among other things, a 4th Amendment guarantee to be free from state search and seizure. But flowing from that guarantee is a reminder that curtains don't just block the sun but also keep peering eyes out of your living room, be they from the state or your nosy neighbor.
In short, the risk of being ridiculed or canceled for your views is minimized by keeping your Big Yapper shut. Just because there is a public forum doesn't necessitate your participation, especially if you have your actual name tacked onto it.
I'm not condoning the doxxing and cyber bullying. But I am saying that 30 years ago, most people didn't send lengthy tomes to their local paper about the evils of X or Y. And if they did, most of us ignored them.
As for the gentle generational bashing, as I wrote elsewhere, every generation starts out stupid. The Boomers were drugged out counter-culturists, the GenXers were a flannel-wearing depressed lot, and now we have the pod-eating Millenials. Of course, exceptions existed (not every boomer smoked dope, not every GenXer liked grunge, and not all Millenials eat Tide), but the elders of each of these generations thought "it's over" when they spoke of the youths. And as our copied FRiend noted, The older generation has complained about the younger throughout human history; my favorite quotes in this vein are from Socrates and from the ancient Egyptian graffitti purportedly found by Napolean (and which may both be apocryphal), suggesting that the younger generation are going to the dogs:
http://www.bartleby.com/73/195.html
Today, the Boomers are, as a generation, the most conservative (technically their parents' generation is the most conservative but there aren't as many of them around) followed by the GenXers. The Millenials are showing signs of maturation. It happens. And it'll continue happening, so unlike the author I don't look at today's kids and think we're ipso facto doomed.
The radicals always positioned themselves as anti-establishment. Well...they're the establishment now. It's actually an act of radicalism to say you're conservative or think independently etc. And youths usually gravitate to this "question authority" mindset...in a strange way, the left's ascent may be their downfall. Indeed, many younger folks see what's happening, and while they don't get air time, they DO text and use iPhones to communicate with each other...these communiques basically say that they're all for justice and not bashing gays etc., but torching buildings, wearing nine masks, and reassignment surgery at 4-years of age aren't great ideas.
These kids are smart enough not to speak loudly during The Purge, but they exist...and they're getting "radicalized" I.E. red-pilled. I believe that while some fraction of society will always be lost, a bigly number of people are hip to what's happening and, for obvious reasons, we don't see the silent backlash.
The interwebs is a great source for whatever information you choose to find, however inaccurate you please; it is a great source to connect with like-feeling people, where no judgement is allowed. And as for online dating and sex, it can get you past the first thousand rejections in no time, and the content available can help you as you validate your self.
Thank you Algore. /s
Internet, one of another invention of the great American War machine was not a mistake so much, as it gives the world an example of how many humans are idiots.
Democracy is a failure and all you have to do is read to see why.
Until Democrats screw it up and Ban PEOPLE for using words that upset them, the Internet is the ultimate Democracy, the “Town square” soap box as it were.
The big three is
Soap box
Ballot box
Ammo box
We all know the Ballot box is a waste of time,
With Democrats being the counters.
In many places the soap box is guarded by people that ban
comments based on a very subjective set of rules
AKA Algorithms.
Where does that leave us?
Free and open discussion is the way to go.
I plan to donate to keep this one site open,
(although they should announce a jubilee
and remove all their bans).
Happy Easter!
“I used to think the internet was one of the great inventions among fire, the wheel, and so on.”
It is absolutely that..and more! However, one has to have a certain level of maturity and sophistication and a stable, healthy “weltanschauung” as it were. Unleashing the internet on youth has been akin to giving guns and beer to 10 year olds.
Internet is good. Social media is not so much. It started out great. Find old friends and family members . Chat about life. But then politics took over and screwed it all up.
People probably said the same of television, and radio before it.
The internet is a tool, like any other.
People often use tools in destructive ways; others often ignore the destructive ways that tools are used against them.