“because forbidden thoughts may circulate in secret, but what can be done when an important fact is lost in a flood of impostors … ?”
This accurately describes one of the main failings of the Internet. It was supposed to give us an age of transparency, but instead it's delivered a choking fog of contradictory nonsense and rumors. It's almost impossible to see what's actually happening through all the propaganda, spin-doctoring, rumor-milling, fear-porn, and wild speculation.
The Fukushima meltdown really drove this home to me. While it was unfolding -- and after -- the Internet was simultaneously telling me everything from "it's not a big deal" to "this is an issue of human survival!" I suspected the truth might be somewhere in between, but this is a fallacy as well as an admission of profound ignorance. Somewhere in between nothing and doomsday is not saying much.
This accurately describes one of the main failings of the Internet. It was supposed to give us an age of transparency, but instead it's delivered a choking fog of contradictory nonsense and rumors. It's almost impossible to see what's actually happening through all the propaganda, spin-doctoring, rumor-milling, fear-porn, and wild speculation.
The Fukushima meltdown really drove this home to me. While it was unfolding -- and after -- the Internet was simultaneously telling me everything from "it's not a big deal" to "this is an issue of human survival!" I suspected the truth might be somewhere in between, but this is a fallacy as well as an admission of profound ignorance. Somewhere in between nothing and doomsday is not saying much.