It Trolls For Thee

at

 

“Speaking my mind.” What internet users seem to overlook is that the content of public discourse has not until now comprised the first-thought responses of contributors but (usually) something more considered, measured and refined.

…The general attitude – perhaps arising from a fear of seeming out of touch – seems to be that these new phenomena are unreservedly to be welcomed. Recently, there has been a soft initiative within this newspaper to persuade columnists to engage with posters who contribute to threads at the end of articles published on our web edition.

I am resisting, not because I am fearful of absorbing abuse but because I believe these platforms are about something quite different from our conventional understandings of public debate.

…Unfortunately, any attempt to enable society to focus on these questions is itself subject to the action of the problematic phenomenon, being instantly drowned in waves of abuse and derision.

 

And how’s that going down?

Ah

Internet Is Debasing Our Public Discourse (John Waters, Irish Times)

Pic via Communion and Liberation

Sponsored Link
Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie