Dear Log,
«Ancient wisdom says that people hear only what they want to hear. But
that is so yesterday. Now everywhere you turn, people are hearing only
what they don't want to hear, the stuff that sickens them, makes them
angry and, frankly, drives them nuts.»
--"Who Sells Darkness?
: The media hasn't filtered out what good news there is in Iraq"
news filtering considered harmful
brev on 2003-10-30T03:44:35
I read an awful lot of news on the web. I've noticed that while I feel better informed and more alarmed than I ever have been, at the same time I feel strangely out of touch, not sure if I'm walking on air.
Because I know that right alongside me in those miles of fiber optic cables, some other person is reading their favorite news sites and getting equally alarmed -- in totally opposite ways.
Given the huge firehose of info it's distressingly easy to grep out stuff that fits your own neuroses. I *think* my reading habits are broad enough to counter this, but I'm never sure.
I don't think it was always like this. I mean, the 70s had a lot of bad news but at least people agreed that there were lineups at the gas pump, labor unrest, inflation, and that the Soviet Union had nuclear weaponds pointed at us.
Today I get worked up about stuff that my neighbour may not even believe exists -- a lying American administration, eroding of Canadian health care standards, looting by tax policy, and permanent degradation of the environment. The fact that others don't see these things just makes it all the more alarming to me, since I feel like there's a lot of deception going on. But even if my fears come to pass, she may never noticem in some final Ha-I-told-you-so way.
So either I'm a member of a cult, or one of the few who isn't in one.
