Here is a must read – a very thoughtful article by Mark Wegierski (posted August 8th on ESR): The Internet: Boon or bane to serious discourse?
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0811/0811internetserdiscp1.htm
The Questions:
Will the Internet offer the possibilities of enhancing serious social, political, cultural, and truly philosophical debate?
Or, will the Internet simply deepen the extension of American and Canadian consumerism and political-correctness, and the (mostly American) mindless, ersatz patriotism?
Two observations made by this Canadian researcher are:
- One of the general effects of the Internet is the tendency to accentuate a “hyper-fragmentation” of social, cultural, and political interests, which means that broadly-based public and political debate becomes ever more difficult.
- In the case of a very large number of people, the Internet is used simply for access to various entertainment and pop-culture imageries and “news,” existing in various subgenres like “porn”, celebrity-cults, rock- and rap-music, and sports, movie, and television show fandom.
Read the full article here:
http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0811/0811internetserdiscp1.htm
