

Context in the Information Age (The first Internet president?) - natural219
http://cjohnson.io/2014/context

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tylermccall
I read an interview recently where Ray Bradbury said Fahrenheit 451 was never
a story about censorship or McCarthyism. It was about television not being a
substitute for literature. It fills us with useless information and could be
used as channel for state sponsored indoctrination. Come to think of it, I
think he also talked about it creating a society where everyone is a minority
and political correctness reaches the point of absurdity. Books must be burned
because they will always offend someone. Replace “television” with “Internet”
and it becomes frighteningly prophetic.

While you were describing how the Internet effects context, I couldn’t help
but keep wondering how this is any different than anything ever written down
throughout history. Anytime someone puts pen to paper, or now types a key, are
they not giving up a bit of that ability to control context? That has weighed
heavily in my mind and kept me from clicking enter on at least half of the
posts or comments I have begun to write online.

Whose job is it to convey context? I wish we could rely on the media or
journalists to inject that proper context you speak of. I find myself dwelling
far too often on whether or not there should be some kind of journalistic
standards or oversight for the news. We have it for medicine and other public
services or things that could harm our well-being. Should people be held
accountable for the information they put out in the world, especially if they
are claiming to be delivering news? But that borders far to closely to
censorship for my taste, and I back away from the thought.

I think the only way to maintain proper context is for people to develop
stronger critical thinking skills. People must have a properly maintained
sense of skepticism. We need to be able to read something and understand that
there is history, context and complexities to it. I’m honestly not sure most
people even understand the concept of context. The answer laid in front of us,
whatever is the easiest explanation, usually seems to win. It’s easier to
assume Edward Snowden is a traitor who took refuge in Russia because, of
course. Who cares why he actually ended up in Russia, he is there now so
that’s the story.

I put it with what you said about wisdom, it’s important to be able to
understand and accept that there are countless points of view. Ultimately, I
think the responsibility falls on the recipient, because you should never
assume someone is setting the context properly for you. Far too often the
media seems to not want to deliver any proper context, and they actively work
to misrepresent the author. And I couldn’t agree more that this is likely a
predictable consequence of capitalism.

