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Perhaps, they posited, Americans could be moved to reconsider their âunderstandingâ of the First and Fourth Amendments, as âthe harms from digital speechâ continue to grow, and âthe social costs of a relatively open Internet multiply.â
This interesting take on the First Amendment was the latest in a line of âLetâs rethink that whole democracy thingâ pieces that began sprouting up in earnest four years ago. Articles with headlines like âDemocracies end when they become too democraticâ and âToo much of a good thing: why we need less democracyâ became common after two events in particular: Donald Trumpâs victory in the the Republican primary race, and the decision by British voters to opt out of the EU, i.e. âBrexit.â
A consistent lament in these pieces was the widespread decline in respect for âexpertsâ among the ignorant masses, better known as the people Trump was talking about when he gushed in February 2016, âI love the poorly educated!â
The Atlantic was at the forefront of the argument that The People is a Great Beast, that cannot be trusted to play responsibly with the toys of freedom. A 2016 piece called âAmerican politics has gone insaneâ pushed a return of the âsmoke-filled roomâ to help save voters from themselves. Author Jonathan Rauch employed a metaphor that is striking in retrospect, describing Americaâs oft-vilified intellectual and political elite as societyâs immune system:
Americans have been busy demonizing and disempowering political professionals and parties, which is like spending decades abusing and attacking your own immune system. Eventually, you will get sick.
originally posted by: Ahabstar
So what you are saying is that a free and independent press is a danger to society because the consumer makes the decision as to credibility versus the distribution hub of that medium?
Yeah, that does not cause any weight to credibility before researching the presentation...except it does by human nature as often people go to great lengths to hide the truth.
originally posted by: American-philosopher
a reply to: DoctorBluechip
This is what your post reminds me of.
People on certain sides of the political spectrum are famous for chiding people for being controlled by corporate oligarchs, but they are themselves controlled by an oligarchy of another sort.
originally posted by: peck420
originally posted by: Ahabstar
So what you are saying is that a free and independent press is a danger to society because the consumer makes the decision as to credibility versus the distribution hub of that medium?
Yeah, that does not cause any weight to credibility before researching the presentation...except it does by human nature as often people go to great lengths to hide the truth.
YouTube is not:
Free
Independent
Press
It is a multinational corporation. It does what it needs to do to keep it's preferred revenue streams open. Nothing more, nothing less.