Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Reports Of These Various Demises Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

The Telegraph's Matthew Moore has "50 Things That Are Being Killed By The Internet". Some are accurate:
1) The art of polite disagreement
While the inane spats of YouTube commencers may not be representative, the internet has certainly sharpened the tone of debate. The most raucous sections of the blogworld seem incapable of accepting sincerely held differences of opinion; all opponents must have "agendas".
Birthers, anyone?

...And some are not.
16) Hoaxes and conspiracy theories
The internet is often dismissed as awash with cranks, but it has proved far more potent at debunking conspiracy theories than perpetuating them. The excellent Snopes.com continues to deliver the final, sober, word on urban legends.
Birthers, anyone?
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2 comments:

  1. Matt OsborneSeptember 8, 2009 at 3:57 PM

    See, this is why I read this blog.

    If anything, the internet has leveled credibility. Wing Nut Daily would have been a small, cheap-ass mailer once; now it's practically an institution (indeed, one could argue that it's a special place for insane ideas).

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  2. Mike J.September 8, 2009 at 4:32 PM

    Seems to me there was plenty of impolite disagreement before the Internet. The US Civil War, for example...

    ReplyDelete