Thanks ASG for posting the article. For me the main point of the article were these two paragraphs
While the elites formerly might have successfully squashed conspiracy theories and called out populists for their inconsistencies, today fewer and fewer citizens take the elites seriously. Now that people get their news from social media rather than from established newspapers or the old three TV news networks (ABC, CBS and NBC), fake news proliferates. It’s surmised that 10 million people saw on Facebook the false claim that Pope Francis came out in favor of Trump’s election in 2016. Living in a news bubble of their own making many undoubtedly believed it. (This was the most-shared news story on Facebook in the three months leading up to the 2016 election, researchers report.)
The irony is that more democracy—ushered in by social media and the Internet, where information flows more freely than ever before—is what has unmoored our politics, and is leading us towards authoritarianism. Rosenberg argues that the elites have traditionally prevented society from becoming a totally unfettered democracy; their “oligarchic ‘democratic’ authority” or “democratic control” has until now kept the authoritarian impulses of the populace in check.
The internet has allowed a proliferation of mediocrity, not enlightenment. Before the internet the masses got their information from a select media be it books, a few channels of news or scientific publication. ALthough not 100% free of bias it did represent the natural selection of the best and the brightest information rising to the top in those limited channels.
THe internet opened up 10,000 channels of what is mostly shit. This has allowed mediocrity to rein and dilute the information that was more selective disseminated by what the author calls the elite. The result is that your average joe no longer has the ability to distinguish substance from trash.
THink about it, a one room country school house 80 years ago provided an education and select literature that is superior to what your average dumbed down citizen consumes today on the internet.
The founding fathers were a set of wise elite, most of the history of our country evolved with the information spreading through the population coming from the elite; limited media, scientific journals, books, church leaders, civic leaders etc.
I posted about this very topic a couple of years ago here on this site. The proliferation of mediocrity.
The author sees the rise of authoritarianism as the result, the weakening of democracy. This is a real threat.
At least this is now being addressed. I have been feeling like an oddball having these exact sentiments actually.
Maybe I am not as pessimistic as the author but I don't have any idea at the moment how you put humpty dumpty back together again. How we go back to a time when the information disseminated to the public goes through a natural selection process of quality. It was never perfect but it sure was functioning whereby there was some guidance and influence from the elite to the masses. Let's be clear. The elite includes church leaders, civic leaders, teachers, educators, previously the media, scientific journals, even previously many politicians. etc. Today the influence of this elite has been drowned out by mediocrity and yes as the autor says authoritarianism can gain a foothold.
There is something else. Brain drain away from politics. Former politicians who were smart and civic minded have been replaced with clowns milking the system. This is part of the decay.
Your average Joe can not see any of this. But the situation is dire, fucked up really.
Patiently awaiting the pathogens. Our resiliency resembles an invasive weed. We are the Kudzu Ape
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