I don't think we are headed for a dark ages but I do see some trends that concern me:
The prevalence of celebrity gossip over the factual news reports
The ongoing trend of media to give us more opinion than fact
The reliance on the unsubstantiated internet information
The polarization of ideas and lifestyles
The concentration of media
An ever increasing focus on security as opposed to freedom
The growing number of fanatics in power around the world.
This is my opinion but it is worth some thought
Of course I am just another voice on the internet so don't take my word on any of this. Knowing TBOT I am sure there will be people who disagree with me about this and may point out other reasons we are or are not moving in reverse. That is a good thing. Discussion and sharing of ideas is always good.
Here is an interesting article from "The American Thinker" I found.
Articles: Is A New Dark Age At Hand?
I don't agree with everything and it does sound a bit alarmist at times but it gives me more food for thought and research. Here is a snippet from that article.
"Today, easy access to the Internet is flooding us with gossip, rumor, celebrity tales, and slant that drown out the trickle of actual truth. The Internet can tell you anything you want to know with a googly glance at its googol of inputs. We no longer need seek out and read a book to learn; we need only power a search engine with a few words, even when they're spelt inkorekly. Internet's Wikipedia, which is as objective as a list on a barroom menu, and often as fully fact-checked as a diatribe, has all but replaced studiously researched encyclopedias.
"Information" is not the same thing as "fact". But eventually, we forget the distinction and uncritically accept all information as truth. When a briefly popular author invented a mythical society, the Priory of Sion, Google was rapidly filled with thousands of references to its history, organization, famous leaders, and its lost, hidden or church-burned documents - none of which were true. Need one add that 70% of us believe in UFOs and 70% believe that JFK was the victim of a political assassination plot.
And thus, if it's "hot" on the Internet, we uncritically accept the fad of the moment. A growing multitude drink water from bottles that Pepsi and Coke fill from New York water faucets rather than drink the water coming out of those faucets because we've been warned that non-toilet trained "Catskill fish swam in it"
That is just part of the article and I don't believe that the internet alone is sending us all over the falls in an ice bucket. There is a lot more than that going on. The internet can be a great tool as well.
What do you think? Are we headed forwards or backwards? Remember no politics or religion here. We can discuss this without getting into those subjects.
The prevalence of celebrity gossip over the factual news reports
The ongoing trend of media to give us more opinion than fact
The reliance on the unsubstantiated internet information
The polarization of ideas and lifestyles
The concentration of media
An ever increasing focus on security as opposed to freedom
The growing number of fanatics in power around the world.
This is my opinion but it is worth some thought
Of course I am just another voice on the internet so don't take my word on any of this. Knowing TBOT I am sure there will be people who disagree with me about this and may point out other reasons we are or are not moving in reverse. That is a good thing. Discussion and sharing of ideas is always good.
Here is an interesting article from "The American Thinker" I found.
Articles: Is A New Dark Age At Hand?
I don't agree with everything and it does sound a bit alarmist at times but it gives me more food for thought and research. Here is a snippet from that article.
"Today, easy access to the Internet is flooding us with gossip, rumor, celebrity tales, and slant that drown out the trickle of actual truth. The Internet can tell you anything you want to know with a googly glance at its googol of inputs. We no longer need seek out and read a book to learn; we need only power a search engine with a few words, even when they're spelt inkorekly. Internet's Wikipedia, which is as objective as a list on a barroom menu, and often as fully fact-checked as a diatribe, has all but replaced studiously researched encyclopedias.
"Information" is not the same thing as "fact". But eventually, we forget the distinction and uncritically accept all information as truth. When a briefly popular author invented a mythical society, the Priory of Sion, Google was rapidly filled with thousands of references to its history, organization, famous leaders, and its lost, hidden or church-burned documents - none of which were true. Need one add that 70% of us believe in UFOs and 70% believe that JFK was the victim of a political assassination plot.
And thus, if it's "hot" on the Internet, we uncritically accept the fad of the moment. A growing multitude drink water from bottles that Pepsi and Coke fill from New York water faucets rather than drink the water coming out of those faucets because we've been warned that non-toilet trained "Catskill fish swam in it"
That is just part of the article and I don't believe that the internet alone is sending us all over the falls in an ice bucket. There is a lot more than that going on. The internet can be a great tool as well.
What do you think? Are we headed forwards or backwards? Remember no politics or religion here. We can discuss this without getting into those subjects.
