In 2008, I read an interesting book by Mark Bauerlein entitled “The Dumbest Generation”. In it, the author discusses how the Digital Age stupefies young Americans, asserting that this jeopardizes our future. The results may be particularly problematic given that many Canadians, Americans and others get the majority of their local, national and international news through electronic media. As asserted in the past (Finally the American mainstream media got it right – Oct. 26, 2020) there has been a significant decline in mainstream print media. There also has been a lot of misinformation and disinformation put out by online sources trying to appear to be reliable sources of news. Unfortunately, way too much of this situation occurred during the Trump era, as witnessed by conspiracies surrounding the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.
How many people really take the time to consult mainstream media outlets in print, on the radio, on television and through the Internet? When researching a story, I like to have as many facts as possible and sometimes several interpretations of those facts from several reliable sources. By reliable, I mean that the reports have been vetted a number of times and the dependability of the sources has been confirmed. Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case with many Internet sources. In addition, while we all have our opinions about a subject matter, we should try to obtain as many viewpoints as possible before reaching too quickly any immediate conclusions. Failure to do so leads us to what is referred to as “confirmation bias”. This is where one attempts to confirm one’s beliefs and viewpoints by selectively seeking out those sources which simply reinforce our preconceptions.
Unfortunately, this is what a lot of extreme right-wing or left-wing proponents do in order to justify their interpretations of news events. The extreme right has for years festered in a variety of places on the Internet, including 4chan, Parler, Gab, CloutHub, etc., etc. Of course, then there is the Breitbart News Network (known commonly as Breitbart News) which is an American far-right syndicated news, opinion and commentary website founded in mid-2007. Breitbart has published a number of falsehoods and conspiracy theories as well as intentionally misleading stories, including claims that Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration supported the ISIS. Breitbart columnists love to attack The Washington Post and The New York Times as being “the mortal enemy of conservatism” (Joshua Klein, Breitbart, 25 Dec. 2020). Normally, it is rare for mainstream media to attack another media source in this manner, but not for Breitbart. Breitbart also spent an inordinate amount on its election news coverage, especially anything dealing with unfounded allegations that the Democrats stole the election from Trump.
More has to be done to alert young people in particular about the need to seek out news from different sources, including mainstream print media. It is just not good enough to have them be informed by too conveniently accessing bits and bytes. There is a real danger that they will be influenced by conspiracy theories and could become radicalized in one form or another. Want to know about historical events, read a book or view documentaries on the History Channel. Even better, talk to some informed people who actually witnessed the events in real time. The truth is out there, one only has to take the time and make an effort to find it.
FROLITICKS 