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December 12, 2008 at 10:31:33
Part II: Obama is Hitler? WTF? by Adam Bessie Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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This incendiary title, no doubt, is what brought you here, out of the hundreds of articles competing for your attention on OEN. Also, this title – an example of the manipulative and fear-mongering language which is unfortunately common – no doubt sparked the high volume of comments on Part I. And rather than discourage this low-brow name-calling, my article seemed to invite it: more than one commenter agreed that Obama is similar to Hitler. Another commenter, seeking a more poetic flair, dubbed Obama “Stalin on Steroids.” Did they read the article before commenting? Did they understand what I wrote? Did they care? Why did my message fall so short with these readers? And beyond my article, I wonder about communication in cyberspace. While the internet has opened the information floodgates, has it made it easier to really communicate? Do we actually read on the internet? Do we actually listen to each other, or are we simply waiting for an opportunity to post ourselves? Are we actually exchanging knowledge with each other, or just words? Go skip to the comments now, if you like. You get my point – I give you permission. 
In fact, if you’ve read this far in, you may be uncommon, as an author of a print-news website (ironic, huh) notes: “pressed for time [readers] scan the headlines and maybe a paragraph or two to get an idea of what’s happening in the world.” And certainly, a number of readers saw the provocative title, I bored them, and they skipped to one of the literally hundreds of other articles on this site alone, on far more titillating topics, such as Obama’s dog’s hair-stylist. And if they didn’t find what they needed on OEN, there are hundreds of other news and opinion websites – not to mention tens of million blogs – to read. And given these choices, who has time to actually read what any one person has to say?
“Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words,” writes Nicholas Carr, in his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid.” “Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”
And all of us – with hyperlinks, as I’ve given you above and below – jump around from one article to the next, “zipping along the surface,” rather than swimming deeply in ideas. Or, as reporter Motoko Rich writes in her excellent New York Times article, “readers skate through cyberspace at will and, in effect, compose their own beginnings, middles and ends.” And I wonder how many of those who commented on my article were reading in this way – catching a couple lines, responding, and then moving onto the next article.
The internet, arguably, has transformed us into shallow readers – wide readers, but not deep, a sentiment Carr further clarifies: “Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy….Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.”
He concludes that “the deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.”(Read a thoughtful counter-argument to Carr here).
Neurological evidence suggests Carr’s impression might be right. Some neuroscientists claim that internet-use actually rewires the brain – though whether this is for the better or the worse is debatable. Carr cites one such neuroscientist, Marryanne Wolf, who argues the net favors “efficiency” and “immediacy” over deep thought. In contrast, another recent UCLA study showed that internet use “stimulates the brain” more than simple reading, encouraging “complex reasoning and decision making.”
In other words, our brains are rewiring to become more adept at filtering through information – but does this come at the expense of deep-reading? Are we just professional skimmers, free-associating from one byte of information to the next, never really meditating on any one item, never really listening to it the cacophony of competing voices?
It’s easy to pin blame for social ills on the newest technology, as has been a habit throughout history. In Phaedrus, Plato explored how the new technology of “writing” would transform humans: “The fact is that this invention will produce forgetfulness in the souls of those who have learned it.” And perhaps Plato is right here, that writing itself did make us more forgetful; and perhaps Carr is right, that the internet will encourage us to be less “thoughtful.” But beyond technology, the central problem I have addressed in each of my articles on politics and language is communication: of not just sharing bytes of information, of not just being able to read, but being able to actually understand one another.
Still reading? I’m sure I lost at least 50 readers to "Obama Body Surfing" just with the mention of Plato.
Even if you are still reading, even if you are slowing down and really paying attention to my words, no doubt you may still misunderstand my meaning. To a degree, our brains seem to be programmed for misunderstanding, for misinterpreting.
We see the world through frames, or “mental structures that allow human beings to understand reality,” according to UC Berkeley Cognitive Linguist George Lakoff’s now defunct Progressive Think Tank The RockRidge Institute. More simply, our experience in the world shapes how we see that world. We read – and listen – through these frames, which explain why each of us can have a different impression of the same article. And these frames tend to show us what we want to see, rather than what is true: “If the truth doesn't fit the existing frame, the frame will stay in place and the truth will dissipate.” Thus, we can read an article carefully, and never really see the truth in what that person is saying, because it doesn’t conform to our perception of the world. We leave that article with a different impression, even a misinterpretation of what is said.
And in a way, this is the beauty of language – that each of us can take something different away from what we read.
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| 7 comments |
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Bush is Hitler.
Bush is a paranoid megalomaniac and a sociopath, just like Hitler. He has murdered at least a million people. American is full of little Hitlers like Kissinger, Soros, Limbaugh, etc. It isn't that hard to lie and bully gullible people. Obama doesn't even come close. He has a conscience. by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1764 comments [39 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 12, 2008 at 1:15:48 PM  (0+)
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The New LSD?
"Go skip to the comments now, if you like. You get my point – I give you permission." How gracious of the author to allow us to skip his words and substitute them with our own. Yes, I'll admit to it every now and then. Perceptive indeed he is about the shrinking attention spans. I've noticed myself growing extremely impatient, as if I have Attention Deficit Disorder. I wasn't surprised to see the using the Internet affects our hard-wiring. I attribute my particular affliction to online gaming. The Battlefield series--my particular indulgence--is like brain candy. And like a drug, the more I get, the more I want. Could it be that we are being reprogrammed for dependency on electronic stimulation? Perhaps this great new digital age will make us even more susceptible to the evils of media saturation. Rather than wage slaves, perhaps we've become pleasure slaves, who will play endlessly in the strawberry fields of the digital universe, like Timothy Leary did a generation ago, except that we will no longer need psychedelic substances to trigger the dream state? Or are some new drugs coming that will let us enter the digital environment, Tron-like? Some kind of mind meld/interface perhaps? I do know that hours and hours playing a 3D game can kind of confuse your senses. Clearly if you've been blowing people or things up in a suicidal rage, mimicking your behaviors--or forgetting that you are real-world--could be somewhat problematic... by JohnPeebles (9 articles, 10 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 59 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 12, 2008 at 1:51:52 PM (0+)
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I actually read this to the end
There are scores of OEN articles posted every day. I often skim through them to see which, if any, are worth my full attention. Some of them go on and on without saying anything. So, I don't think superficial reading is entirely the fault of the readers. by Maxwell (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 409 comments [89 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 12, 2008 at 3:27:08 PM (0+)
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Reply: Also read your original article
which I previously missed. Well-written, and you were right to be appalled by the thread of comments supposedly in response! by Maxwell (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 409 comments [89 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Dec 12, 2008 at 3:51:26 PM (0+)
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At the center of it all
Truth is a powerful and illusive reality - and the slant depends on the source. In all instances, the strength of the storyteller's motives are directly proportional to the importance and reach of the story. This is precisely why double-blind studies, [when all participants in an experiment, study or poll do not know what results they are seeking], and peer-reviewed scientific findings are of particular value. Within the vast abyss of the internet, like any source of information or news, certificates of authenticity are seldom offered. If they are, beware. Simply observe the coordinated subversions of countless major news events by the so-called "Big Three" broadcast television networks. Russian agression in Georgia. The campaign of fear about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Critical and pepeated omission of the FBI's role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center towers. How many know of the two other, [larger], explosive devices that were discovered in the Murrow Federal Building in Oklahoma City, after it was ostensibly bombed by the lone terrorist, Timothy McVeigh? And the top-down hierarchy of the American media machinery promotes nothing more than a child's game of "follow the leader". Step out of the dictated mainstream only at great risk. A fundamental and critical aspect of human nature is our desire, [whether acknowledged or not], to seek opinions and assessments that mirror our own. Genuine critical thinking comes only with the ability to digest bevies of information, often contradictoy in slant, and to be able to separate the wheat from the chaffe. Inevitably, cross-referencing and validation, [as much as is possible], leads, ostensibly, to the truth. But as anyone with a sensible grasp of, for instance, the genuine events surrounding the 911 attacks, realizes that with enough resources and planning, truth can be manufactured within an ocean of lies. There are few matters of more importance and consequence in the modern world than the manipulation of public opinion and the manufacture of consent. And our self-appointed overlords have employed the ultimate masters of mass psychology to these ends. These persons, along with the US political hierarchy and military machinery, are among the most genuinely dangerous human beings on the planet. by Michael McCoy (7 articles, 1 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 489 comments [31 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 4:28:36 AM (0+)
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Two Magic Words....
... that happen to be two of my favorites: "critical" "thinking," especially used as modifier and modified. I enjoyed your entire article; it was certainly impossible to ignore the challenge to read ahead. I've been doing that all my life. I'm thinking about requiring my students to read your post and share their responses. Some are likely to stop after the first paragraph and tell me the article was about Obama! One way I've found to escape the effects of brain-rewiring caused by the internet and the media is to take a break with a big, solid book. by Debbie Scally (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 99 comments [6 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 12:15:37 PM (0+)
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Reply: Thank you for the feedback
I would love to hear what you find from your students! by Adam Bessie (22 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 22 comments) on Saturday, Dec 13, 2008 at 2:40:50 PM (0+)
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