General Discussion

cthulu2016

(10,960 posts) Tue Aug 28, 2012, 01:56 PM Aug 2012

The internet makes it hard to fool all of the people all of the time.

It makes it much easier, however, to fool most of the people most of the time.

It is quite irrelevant, politically, that the truth is out there in the internet if the lie has ten times the readership.

Consider this... since the internet came along (mid-90s) utterly insane Republican majorities have controlled the house continually except for a four year break. We have invaded a nation on patently false pretenses.

And outright lying, as an effective political tactic, has exploded.

The nation has moved distinctly to the right.

All conspiracy theories are more popular, and their devotees more self-assured.

Economic theories that are disprovable with a moment's thought and had almost not currency in 1990 have become majority views.

The internet encourages echo chamber behavior. It was never going to be a powerful engine of truth. It is a fine resource for the increasingly smaller population of people interested in truth... for the truth niche.

But on the internet the truth is just another web-page. And there is always another web-page saying the opposite.

2 replies

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Highlight:

The internet makes it hard to fool all of the people all of the time. (Original Post) cthulu2016 Aug 2012 OP

But in the original saying, You can't fool all the people all the time. No internet needed. Bluenorthwest Aug 2012 #1

There were a few other changes too, if I recall correctly. Scuba Aug 2012 #2

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)

1. But in the original saying, You can't fool all the people all the time. No internet needed.

Reply to cthulu2016 (Original post)

Tue Aug 28, 2012, 02:01 PM

Aug 2012

So I'd say at most it makes it easier to fool some of the people some of the time, harder to fool most of the people most of the time, and fooling all the people all the time remains impossible just as it has always been.

Scuba

(53,475 posts)

2. There were a few other changes too, if I recall correctly.

Reply to cthulu2016 (Original post)

Tue Aug 28, 2012, 02:02 PM

Aug 2012

The internet has made the truth available to many that were previously denied the opportunity to learn.

You're correct about the volume of lies drowning the truth, but I would point to television and radio as the prime culprits. Think about how they are aimed at viewers/listeners whereas internet users have to more actively self-select what sites they visit.

True the CNN and Fox web sites get plenty of activity, but their broadcasts have no significant competition.

Centralized ownership of TV and radio - and to a continually decreasing part, newspapers - is a much larger problem than the internet.

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