Nichols is too negative. example, on page 130 he says that "the anonymity of social media"... allows for trolls basically..... and "poisons conversation"...... but there is almost always a flip side..... serendipity..... which is...... social media also allows us to challenge belief systems we otherwise would not or could not do face to face. whenever ANY category of folks can have a line drawn around them.. in ANY way... color of skin, anything.... and their mere existence.. and opinions especially.... threaten ANY deeply held belief... you betcha they MUST be subsumed into a category of "fake" "trolls" or denied.. but maybe the social media thing is a GOOD thing. I think so, and increasingly it is changing from bad to something really good... if folks will start thinking and stop being emotional. but it's not just social media. it's one thing to use a phone connected to others with wires.... or even maybe a radio 100 years ago... but when we discover things like Sahelanthropus.... or almost elect a woman as a US world leader (sorry UK, a woman US president.. US one.. would be a big deal.. for Amerikee)... because we have many prominent and global organizations which are based on narratives.. and leadership... that is only male... so I believe the bigger story is that what we are seeing is not the Death of Expertise... but a desperate backlash against science in general..... followed by.... this is the good part..... the Death of Belief Systems which ****are**** very important to our species as well as the other primates even if they don't have a abstract thought/language capacity.. they certainly act and "think".... of the world.. of their universe... as a "we" versus "them" narrative. but there ****is**** a simpler one. and these folks are labeled "experts".... as well as "fake" and "trolls" and whatever..... but maybe it's changing. maybe conversations do begin.
I think the coordinated effort buy Russian trolls, fake stories, and the like have proven Tom Nichols more than right...and you more than wrong. He is negaive.....but that is because he is ACCURATELY writing about the behavior of the Alt-right. And don't forget he is a CONSERVATIVE. The fact is a large portion of this country has flown the Coo-Coo's nest.
good
Nichols is too negative. example, on page 130 he says that "the anonymity of social media"... allows for trolls basically..... and "poisons conversation"...... but there is almost always a flip side..... serendipity..... which is...... social media also allows us to challenge belief systems we otherwise would not or could not do face to face. whenever ANY category of folks can have a line drawn around them.. in ANY way... color of skin, anything.... and their mere existence.. and opinions especially.... threaten ANY deeply held belief... you betcha they MUST be subsumed into a category of "fake" "trolls" or denied.. but maybe the social media thing is a GOOD thing. I think so, and increasingly it is changing from bad to something really good... if folks will start thinking and stop being emotional.
but it's not just social media. it's one thing to use a phone connected to others with wires.... or even maybe a radio 100 years ago... but when we discover things like Sahelanthropus.... or almost elect a woman as a US world leader (sorry UK, a woman US president.. US one.. would be a big deal.. for Amerikee)... because we have many prominent and global organizations which are based on narratives.. and leadership... that is only male...
so I believe the bigger story is that what we are seeing is not the Death of Expertise... but a desperate backlash against science in general..... followed by.... this is the good part..... the Death of Belief Systems
which ****are**** very important to our species as well as the other primates even if they don't have a abstract thought/language capacity.. they certainly act and "think".... of the world.. of their universe... as a "we" versus "them" narrative.
but there ****is**** a simpler one. and these folks are labeled "experts".... as well as "fake" and "trolls" and whatever..... but maybe it's changing.
maybe conversations do begin.
I think the coordinated effort buy Russian trolls, fake stories, and the like have proven Tom Nichols more than right...and you more than wrong. He is negaive.....but that is because he is ACCURATELY writing about the behavior of the Alt-right. And don't forget he is a CONSERVATIVE. The fact is a large portion of this country has flown the Coo-Coo's nest.