Still Following the Main Stream and Social Media?

After the 2016 election and four years of the Trump Presidency, the 2020 election and post-election, are you still following the main stream media? Are you still engaged full-bore with social media? Here are two suggestions if the answer is "Yes."

Main Stream Media

As mentioned a number of times, over the years the "news" began to reveal itself for what it was. For me, the revelations began with the New York Times. I once subscribed for daily delivery. First I began to notice that some stories asserted as facts what were clearly not. These were typically stories that concerned my professional expertise. Knowing what I knew, with some frequency I saw assertions that were sloppy, not fully researched - just plain wrong. 

I began to suspect that the same might hold true for areas for which I did not have any special knowledge or expertise. Cancel the Times.

For some reason, I did continue to buy the Sunday edition. It was simply the thing to do if you were a New Yorker. "Everyone" read the Sunday Times. The Magazine Section served as a topic of social conversation in the office or with friends on Monday or Tuesday. 

But eventually the bloom was off the rose there too. I think it was a preponderance of liberal-leaning (not necessarily what we today call "left") articles. Too often, these excluded relevant facts from the other point of view - not necessarily a conservative view, just any other view. Finally the straw broke the camel's back.

From time to time, I attempted to find other potentially cleaner, reliable, more accurate sources of news. Nothing ever gained much traction. Then came the Internet.

The ideal of a forum where "everyone" might have a voice seemed appealing. Of course, early on, the seamier side emerged. But for a spell, it just seemed one had to take the bad with the good. That all lasted for a stretch. But over time, you could see that everyone having a voice included a lot of voices you really could do without reading or hearing. In time, the effort required to try to determine whether your source was reliable or complete nonsense or the work of "trolls" became a kind of heavy sludge you had to trudge through to get at something even vaguely resembling the truth. The time and effort required were often not worth it.

As for so-called "alternate" media sources, sometimes you can grab a piece of information or an insight that adds to the treasury of the True, the Good, the Beautiful. But it's rare.

Social Media

Confession: I'm not on Facebook. My forays into the Twitter world (I do have an account) were few and far between. When Trump brilliantly (as others more astute about politics once characterized it) built his candidacy on Tweets, I thought the whole idea ridiculous. Little strings of words with bits of thought somehow attracted voters. The thought required was de minimis. It all seemed superficial and silly - until he won the Presidency. 

For a while, I tried to appreciate the strategy of using Twitter to circumvent a hostile media and communicate directly to "the people." For a while. 

To be sure, most of my friends and relatives - even older ones - seemed quite content to meet and greet other humans via Social Media - first Facebook, then other sources. At first, I didn't judge any of this to be anything more than a personal preference. But after a while I learned of liking and not liking, bullying and all the rest. One of our children occasionally would relay exchanges he had with friends. He was mostly amused and tolerant of their ridiculously emotional behavior. These were, after all, relatively close friends. Fortunately, none of those friendships were destroyed. But I became aware of families who stopped talking to each other over Facebook and other Social Media exchanges. And I suspect we've all read stories of young people - even children - who have had an emotional breakdown, even committed suicide, over such exchanges.

Which brings us to today.

I can't say I've settled on a new, reliable source of "news." I poke around but never find much that commands steady attention. As for Social Media, much of it has now become a part of a network of censorship that borders on thought-control. While I can't say too much about something I've not had much to do with, I can, however, make a modest suggestion.

If you're not familiar with a fellow named Jaron Lanier, so yourself a favor and check him out. I won't spend time on him here. I will, however, refer you to a book he wrote in 2018, one of his several books. The title fully captures something he's advocated for a while now: Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now.

Now, Lanier is not anti-Social Media. Indeed he's one of the early proponents of the virtues of the internet and Social Media. But he demonstrates in this book how the original promise of Social Media became derailed. And he makes a strong argument that the only way to restore the benefits that once seemed valuable will be to get out and force the Social Media companies to reform. 

What's most interesting here is that none of this was motivated by the recent wave of censorship. It's frankly much more nefarious than all that. If you're still convinced Social Media should play a role in our society, might I suggest you get a copy of the book? At the very least you can find Lanier discussing all this in interviews posted on YouTube. 

Notice I'm not linking anything here. Frankly, we all tend to click on links too much and spend time reading what's linked simply because it's linked. What I have tried to do here is provide some reasons for you to (easily) find your way to Lanier and his book. If you're interested, and think it's important, you'll do it.

Meanwhile, if you missed our last post on the subject of "preparation," you may find it useful.