The demise of the familiar, but not intimate, relationship?

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The internet has a lot to take blame for, and I think the ease in which radical views are accessed and transmitted also adds something to the polarisation.

No need to quote your entire reply but I think you are right.

We have always had wackos in our country. The issue was that in the past, wackos had limited ability to spread their drivel. The worse/best one could do is "subscribe to your newsletter". Natural provided the balance -- wackos often lack the social skills to spread their viewpoints. Occasionally, we had a charismatic wacko, but thankfully they were uncommon, but probably a much greater threat.

With the advent of the Internets Tubes and sites such as this, wackos have unprecedented opportunities to connect. It is a virtual and virtually unlimited soapbox.

Nutters have a much easier time finding like nutters. As you wrote, that can give them a sense of legitimacy that was harder to get pre-Internet.

The good thing about the internet is that it gave the average citizen an ability to share his or her opinion and to learn about other people's opinion.

The bad thing about the internet is that it gave the average citizen an ability to share his or her opinion and to learn about other people's opinion.


What worries me is that with all this unprecedented access to data, one would think that it would make the citizens smarter and better informed....I have not seen this.

The Internets Tubes are confirmation bias in its purest state.

It is an interesting time for our species.