(This is a shortened version of an article by Chris Kenny which I endorse. I am somewhat guilty of irresponsible utterances and hereby undertake to try to be better)
Twitter digitises and broadcasts the public debate equivalent of a teenage graffiti and vandalism rampage. And yet it shapes debate; our mainstream media and politicians look to the digital world for instant opinion polling and guidance about where to take their narratives and policies …
It is amplifying and weaponising the crudest and most inane elements of society and inviting them to dumb down our public square.
Our battered and impoverished public debate will not improve unless we learn to talk to each other. For a civil society to exist and political debate to be useful, people need to be able to hear alternative arguments, avail themselves of all relevant facts, and learn to deal politely with people who do not agree with them.
Far too many people waste their time shouting digital abuse at each other, or regurgitating views they agree with from accounts chosen by the faceless matchmakers of the Facebook algorithms, instead of reading, discussing or learning.
The digital revolution was going to democratise the media, personalise democracy and mobilise the truth, but instead it has polarised and emaciated the media, dragged politics into the mire of anonymous bullying, and fostered deceptive memes, fake news and pile-ons.
At its core is a lack of accountability. The enticement of being able to post widely and often about anything — without submitting to editors, curators, lawyers or peers — encourages bravado and aggression, and it fosters an impetuousness that values gut feelings over facts, and devalues the time and effort required to get across the facts.
This freedom could liberate debate; but instead of letting a thousand flowers bloom, it shares the scrawls of a thousand dunny doors. People are unthinking enough about what they post without the added shield of anonymity — requiring people to post under their real names, with proof of identity, would not eradicate the problems but it would improve the situation.
The headline or the topic is enough for these people to slur or condemn; often egged on by hysterical opinion leaders such as Kevin Rudd …
…. thanks to social media; more conservatives are forced underground. … social media has weaponised the assault against anyone right of centre.
The woke love the following and adulation of social media …. until they cross a line, make the mistake of speaking sense or asking a salient question, then they experience the rule of the leftist lynch mob.
Public debate becomes coarser, more out of touch from the mainstream, and less tolerant of differing points of view. Soon the stage is vacated by all but the screaming green left, and those who will appease them.
Chris Kenny Weekend Australian 13 March 2021
Rational debate drowning in the social media swamp
sillysocksonfriday 