19 July 2019
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019
This week America has witnessed divisions over politics, race, nationality, gender, and equality not seen since the years prior to the outbreak of World War Two and the culprit behind it all? Politicians? Possibly but deeper into the hatred is what fuels it, the Internet. Parallels to the leadup to the Second World War are many most of which revolve around race and nationality. To make a blanket statement that race itself was the root cause of the war may or may not be an oversimplification, but it certainly, from today's perspective, might be given some credence. That's not the issue, the issue is the greatest threat to human to come out of the last century, the Internet.
Its value cannot be overstressed, it has connected the globe in countless ways, but it has also been subverted for use by demagogues and no more obvious than the chain of events leading up to the recent Congressional resolution aimed directly at the President in his shameful attacks on new liberal Congresswomen. However, there is something else that needs to be pointed out, the recent report by a rather dubious internet entity known as "Propublica." It's so-called expose of a Facebook group tagged "secret," although there is no direct evidence there are secret groups on the social media platform other than groups requiring permission to join, is a case in point.
There were hearings on Wednesday where an exchange between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Homeland Security rep Kevin McAleenan regarding the group involved certain disgusting posts were discussed;
" 'Did you see the posts planning physical harm to myself and Congresswoman Escobar?' Ocasio-'Cortez asked McAleenan. 'Yes,' he answered. 'And I directed an investigation within reading the article.' 'Did you see the images of officers circulating photoshop images of my violent rape?' Ocasio-Cortez continued. 'Yes I did,' McAleenan responded. " (Christal Hayes, USA Today)
The fact that the Propublica article at the center of the investigation has yet to be verified just isn't that important if it can be used to further the agenda of the internet as an existential invasive species, since truth is not relevant. (EOC)
At the heart of just such a divisive issue is not the veracity of the article, but the ignorance of those who take the article at face value without waiting for verification, using it for political cannon fodder wherever it suits an agenda. That's what the internet, and social media in particular has become. Duped by this existentially destructive tool, the human race finds itself no longer in the 21st century, but thrust into the next, through its own ignorance of culture, a lack of regard for history, a disingenuous concern for others, and a superficial understanding of how the human race overall has become obsolete. Taking credit for this irreversible course of self-destruction is the misuse of a simple online platform, social media.
At every turn of the hashtag ignorance surfaces; of lessons learned in higher education just as quickly forgotten or ignored, of prejudicial booby traps in every tweet and countertweet, defensive and hostile in nature and targeting the equally ignorant. Civilization has been doomed by its own rapid advance into a universe, a cyberspace full of tunnel-vision and selfish disregard for its own intellectual advance in the face of ignorance.
The bottom line may well be nothing more complicated than advertising, if the lie sells ads quicker than the truth, print the lie. If the lie can be splashed across the globe with the newest invasive species, the internet, then flood the world with unsubstantiated lies. Social media guarantees the survival of the internet beyond the obsolete 21st century, and mankind itself for that matter.
Works Cited
Hayes, C., https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/18/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-homeland-security-kevin-mcaleenan-facebook-group/1769460001/
EOC,JOUR304.2001--Final Papers: "The Dedicated and the Dilettante"--UNIV OF NEVADA, RENO, SUMMER 2019, https://eyelessoncampus.blogspot.com/2019/07/jour3042001-final-papers-dedicated-and.html