Are you suggesting that real doers just do things and never talk about them (or the ideals which inspire these acts) while all talkers (and writers) ever do is yammer on pointlessly?
Seriously??
What I'm saying is that
we are now in a Clap For Tinkerbell world, & it's infecting even sites such as this. Maybe it's irony that, by trotting out this lame "misunderstanding" -- a propaganda tactic -- you have attempted to undermine, even bury, my point.
If you've done it unintentionally or unconsciously, that does NOT improve the situation.
Go back & reread my post -- it's not that long. Go slowly, so you don't miss any words or punctuation or suchlike niggly nuances.
Okay, got it? Now read it again, just to be certain.
You might notice that I said NOTHING about philosophers or strategists or any other architects of analysis & thought.
I say the "social media" world demonstrates the OPPOSITE of that.
This shows that the Right Wingnuts have won. They have succeeded in making a FACT-BASED intellectual sphere lessimportant than one that is FAITH-BASED. (Remember that term??)
For example, people who deride others for being CYNICAL or PESSIMISTIC... then use these context-free damnations to denounce the messenger... & any subsequent statement no matter how bland... & in fact to make clear that anyone who appears to be defending the messenger &/or beginning to sound at all like the messenger will face similar judgment.
Defending verifiable FACTS in dank caverns like Twitter & Facebook won't make any short-term difference. I'm gonna run with that analogy: a big (possibly huge) hole in the rock, with dozens or hundreds or maybe even thousands of people, & damned little light. When you've got even a few who find it "fucking hilarious" (channeling Gerald Broflovski here) to randomly let out a shrill scream, or kick someone who's unaware of his atacker's presence, or expound confidently about how you all must preemptively attack the "enemies all around,"
nobody who remains quiet or speaks in a calming manner will be noticed.
And I can pretty much guarantee that anyone who attempts to disagree with the trolls or Loud Talkers won't gain many friends, & in fact will likely be among the first "enemies" targeted.
Anyone who was on PMM in 2001 saw this transition, & that was really primitive compared to Social Media 2017, so I figure the outfall will be much worse, & much quicker.
We've entered a world where it's of prime importance to publish/post/retweet a story FIRST even it's total bullshit (& in fact is ludicrous even to the uninformed).
Far less important are fact, truth, veracity, information. The anti-intellectuals have won, in part due to wide support from those who somehow still fancy themselves as Brights. (The truly bright ones are the ones who self-check. "I believe, O Lord -- help me in mine unbelief!")
For instance, every time someone launches a Fake News or parody item without clearly indicating that
it's meant humorously is complicit in swaying the thinking processes of anyone downstream in reposts/retweets/bccs.
Matter on fact, I'm reminded of a statement I made years ago while studying
information theory. Back then, I warned how this new World Wide Web thing would always run the risk of swamping people in so much
data that they could no longer think clearly enough to properly process the
information it contains. (The ability to distinguish data from information is a vital critical-thinking skill.)
By accident, after I started thinking about this, I happened to read a 1979
novel. Norman Spinrad's
A World Between posited a world where all citizens were hyperconnected. The narrative mention that every once in a while, a citizen literally walks away from his (yeah, it's mildly sexist) computers, & winds up living in a leanto deep in the woods, freed from the barrage. The syndrome is called
media cafard. I've always felt Spinrad's Epic Fail was in not exploring this further.
Can you do anything until you walk away? Sure -- in every Comments area you can access, post calm factchecks of obvious bullshit, & accept that you're gonna get flamed to a crispy stump.
Consider creating disposable accounts only for these calm points of actual information, in faint hope of encouraging others to actually THINK.
And if it's NOT bullshit, then resist every urge to nitpick: leave off on their grammar or delivery or less-than-spotless command of English. Every statement of "I generally agree with what you're saying but you suck for HOW you're saying it" gives strength to
the marching morons.
Most of you are city kids. Ever seen a
fly-bottle? An ingeniously simple device.
Flies enter the bottle in search of food and are then unable to escape because their phototaxis behavior leads them anywhere in the bottle except to the darker top where the entry hole is.
In use, the bottle is stood on a plate and some sugar is sprinkled on the plate to attract the flies, which eventually fly up into the bottle, whose trough is filled with beer or vinegar, into which the flies fall and drown.
Actually, the flies don't drown outright. They get damp, swim around... & are pushed under by the other damp flies. It's mildly horrifying.
I am a drowning fly.
