Vague musings, vaguely on this topic. At least on the topic of discussion/argumentation and the internet. The net as contrasted with the media in which ideas were exchanged earlier, I mean.
When people engage with the various realms of information and of presentation, aka the media, they obviously aren't only doing it for entertainment and information. They are also seeking identities for themselves, and communities to belong to.
In the days of text culture, varying viewpoints were expressed in proximity to each other. I'm thinking of general interest magazines, the various town-meeting-of-the-air programs, and even, to some degree, TV. And there were filters and controls involved in this process. Generally, writing had to meet certain formal standards, and standards of fact, to make its way into print.
One striking thing about the net is that it provides sealed-off venues. In them, one particular viewpoint, (or argument for identity,) prevails without challenge. There is something frightening about what you see when there are virtually no 'controls,' meaning no... intellectual competition, I guess, on what is said, gotten into print, in the process of creating one of these sealed-off realms of identity.
Another way of saying what i'm trying, confusedly, to say, is that we seem to be seeing a gradual retreat from the competitive formation of identity and identity-related opinion to a new paradigm where entrepreneurs of a particular worldview or identity are able to create 'sufficing' realms impervious to contradiction or reality-testing in general. This is particularly noticeable in the explosive growth of hate websites and fundamentalist religious websites, and cult sites generally. (These are increasingly accompanied by items, trademarked items, of dress, music, an approved literature, even dating networks, all aimed at making ideological encapsulation, or identity encapsulation, a comfortable experience.)
I think what made me begin these musings is the thought that the old sitcoms were interested in providing a few models of how people of different sorts might wish to live and be; but in the present moment, the net offers thousands of models, and communities, and they're on 24/7, and don't depend on ratings. |
