Et Tu, Flynn

[Flanders]

In the fourteen years that I have been speaking on message boards, I never once tried to silence, or censor, anyone who disagreed with me. Perhaps that is why I felt wounded when I saw this on one of my favorite websites, The American Spectator:

Google’s most annoying legacy is the search-engine expert, the know-nothing know-it-all, often encountered in online message boards and article comments sections, who types and clicks his way to facts but never wisdom. In an earlier incarnations, the Google Expert boasted a library of dog-eared Cliffs Notes sharing shelf space aside books with uncut pages. Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations acted as his speechwriter. Now Wikipedia Brown offers decontextualized bits of information, just like Google does.

Johannes Gutenberg’s press gave rise to literacy. Sergey Brin and Larry Page’s replacement undermines it. Just as Google skims the Internet for key terms, readers increasingly skim what they used to read. We mine facts better than at any point in history. We understand them less. Advertisers report that their studies show that people don’t really read online. They scan.

I, Robot
What the Internet has already done to us.
By Daniel J. Flynn – 9.5.14

I Robot The American Spectator

I suspect that Flynn’s wisdom is institutional —— rooted in the education industry’s definition of wisdom expressed in 3. a. One might even say knowledge but never wisdom:

wisdom (noun)

1. Understanding of what is true, right, or lasting; insight: "One cannot have wisdom without living life" (Dorothy McCall).

2. Common sense; good judgment: "It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things" (Henry David Thoreau).

3. a. The sum of scholarly learning through the ages; knowledge: "In those homely sayings was couched the collective wisdom of generations" (Maya Angelou). b. Wise teachings of the ancient sages.

4. A wise outlook, plan, or course of action.

5. Wisdom. Bible. Wisdom of Solomon.

Attacking freedom of speech on the Internet (which is what it comes down to) is not new —— especially on message boards. One of the president’s guys wanted to ban speech he objected to:

Just prior to his appointment as President Obama’s so-called regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein wrote a lengthy academic paper suggesting the government should “infiltrate” social network websites, chat rooms and message boards. Such “cognitive infiltration,” Sunstein argued, should be used to enforce a U.S. government ban on “conspiracy theorizing.”

Obama czar proposed government ‘infiltrate’ social network sites
Sunstein wants agents to 'undermine' talk in chat rooms, message boards
by Aaron Klein

Obama czar proposed government 8216 infiltrate 8217 social network sites

Basically, opinions, interpretations, and predictions fall under the heading of Sunstein’s conspiracy theorizing.

Not too many people know Sunstein who scurried back to Harvard, but millions hear Harvard grad Bill O’Reilly whose stated hatred of the Internet is understandable. He got rich on television; so it is only natural for him to hate a technology that is burying television’s monopoly on what the public hears:

TV is increasingly for the old, and the Internet is for the young, according to new research by media analyst Michael Nathanson of Moffett Nathanson Research.

The median age of a broadcast or cable television viewer during the 2013-2014 TV season was 44.4 years old, a 6 percent increase in age from four years earlier. Audiences for the major broadcast network shows are much older and aging even faster, with a median age of 53.9 years old, up 7 percent from four years ago.

TV is increasingly for old people
By Cecilia Kang September 5

TV is increasingly for old people - The Washington Post

Incidentally, print media said the same things about television that O’Reilly et al. say about the Internet.

I understand O’Reilly, while I do not understand Daniel J. Flynn’s complaint. After all I, for one, read his piece on the Internet!

Democrats and the First Amendment

Democrats despise freedom of speech so much they believe that their ideology should be the only one that is funded with tax dollars while all other speech must be prohibited.

I do not know if Senator McConnell had the Internet at the top of his list of priorities, but he appears to support freedom of speech in every venue:

. . . Democrats who control the Senate say they’re more interested in repealing the free speech protections the First Amendment guarantees to all Americans. Their goal is to shut down the voices of their critics at a moment when they fear the loss of their fragile Senate majority. And to achieve it, they’re willing to devote roughly half of the remaining legislative days before November to this quixotic anti-speech gambit.

The proposal they want to consider would empower incumbent politicians to write the rules on who gets to speak and who doesn’t. And while no one likes to be criticized, the way for Senate Democrats to avoid it is to make better arguments, or even better, to come up with better ideas — not shut up their constituents.

The Democrats’ Assault on Free Speech
By SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL
September 07, 2014

The Democrats Assault on Free Speech - Sen. Mitch McConnell - POLITICO Magazine

I’ll close with a few observations.

Prohibit freedom of speech in any venue and it won’t be long before it is prohibited everywhere.

Overpaid journalists believe that free speech means talking without being paid.

Professional journalists would have the rest of us believe that their opinions are better than ours; their insights more enlightening than ours, and their monopoly more secure than our freedoms.

A license to practice journalism is better than a license to practice medicine; the doctor saves one patient at a time; the journalist saves the world.

Welfare state advocates believe that everything except speech should be free.

Totalitarians always want to silence those who disagree with them because their ideologies cannot stand the light of day.

Fools should never have their freedom of speech taken away.

Tax dollars funding any form of freedom of speech should never be allowed.

Censorship is only practiced by those who own the machinery.

There is no constitutional Right to be heard.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech to everyone.

Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. A. J. Liebling

 

[Mad_Cabbie]

A lot of work went into this thread, obviously, but I must say that I really can't quite understand it.

 

[blastoff]

Ditto.

 

[Flanders]

A lot of work went into this thread, obviously, but I must say that I really can't quite understand it.

To Mad_Cabbie: Obviously, you have to put in more work on your reading comprehension skills.

Ditto.

To blastoff: Ditto.

 

[Moonglow]

I am 53 and prefer the internet....much more than TV or cable...

 

[Mojo2]

A lot of work went into this thread, obviously, but I must say that I really don't think the OP quite understands The American Spectator article fully.

There really IS a lack of common sense brought on by people who have only read about life instead of having actually LIVED life and having an intellectual understanding of life.

A lack of wholism exists in this generation.

 

[Flanders]

I am 53 and prefer the internet....much more than TV or cable...

To Moonglow: As do I. (I would not have a television set in my home were it not for my wife.)

A lot of work went into this thread, obviously, but I must say that I really don't think the OP quite understands The American Spectator article fully.

To Mojo2: I understood yet another subtle criticism of freedom of speech on the Internet.

There really IS a lack of common sense brought on by people who have only read about life instead of having actually LIVED life and having an intellectual understanding of life.

To Mojo2: Okay in general —— although I like to think I possess all four.

1. Common sense.

2. Well-read —— combined with above average reading comprehension skills.

3. Lived an extraordinarily well-rounded life.

4. The intellectual understanding needed to blend all four into a reasonable personal code of conduct.

Other than those sterling qualities I’m just like everybody else.

A lack of wholism exists in this generation.

To Mojo2: Hooray! I made the cut. I’m 80 years old.

 

[blastoff]

A lot of work went into this thread, obviously, but I must say that I really can't quite understand it.

To Mad_Cabbie: Obviously, you have to put in more work on your reading comprehension skills.

Ditto.

To blastoff: Ditto.

Ooh, ouch...LOL.

 

[Flanders]

Can you believe this guy in the video. He’s the guy did that not want anybody talking on the Internet.

Cass Sunstein - The Daily Show - Video Clip Comedy Central