Blogs may well save democracy.
To be effective a democracy needs informed citizens. Further, it needs citizens with the capacity for critical thinking. To date the MSM was virtually the only means available by which citizens could inform themselves on the issues of the day. Many of out here have noticed for some number of years now that the MSM has not been a reliable provider of accurate information, consequently citizens have not been able to make truly informed decisions.
Facts, opinion to the contrary, do not stand by themselves, they must be put into a context to be understood. Events need to be analyzed. Until now the MSM controlled not only the facts, but the context. The knowledge and experience of millions will be available to all. The power of the genteel demagogues of the MSM to sway the credulous crowds and stampede citizens is gone forever (well, I hope so, anyway). They tried, and for long succeeded, in shaping the minds of nations. No more.
Knowledgee, it is said, is power. There is truth to that, for without knowledge the people are powerless. But that is not the whole of the matter, for it is not sufficient to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. It is also necessary to act. Having removed the power to direct action from the MSM the blogosphere places it squarely in the hands of the citizens. Further, action implies responsibility, which in turn implies accountability, both sorely lacking in the ancien regime and now restored to us, the people.
As a Christian, I see in this (Going All Mystical Alert!) the Hand of God at work. If the Church (understood as widely as possible) as the Body of Christ guided by the Holy Spirit, then I say that we see before us idols being cast down and God, through the Holy Spirit, is at work among His People. The oracles and prophets of the MSN rightly tremble; they stand stripped and feckless in the crumbling temples of the Department of Truth.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Blogs may well save democracy.
Chester over at The Adventures of Chester was commenting on the the relationship between the blogosphere and the Main Stream Media. Granting that everything he says is basically true, I have this to add:
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One of the problems with blogs is that they are not regulated in any way. They are not held to account for acurracy or ethics in the same way that many news services are.
There are a good number of right wing blogs out there that do nothing but publish missleading accounts that spread hatred and intollerance, as well as a large number of 'liberal blogs' that rabidly pursue human rights and environmental causes that are based on supositions and embelished accounts rather than on reality.
Blogs give us the freedom to speak on democracy and a hundred other issues and to spread information, but they also allow us to spread poison.
We can't trust the content of a blog any more than that of the big media, we can only trust it to provide different views, whether they are good, bad or comical.
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