tijaco

This is a big ol’ block of ranting text. Who needs paragraphs anyway?

There seems to be room for an independent media revolution. I am convinced that people are so disenfranchised with the mainstream media and sick of the lack of substance that they are ready to divert their eyes to more authentic sources. There seems to be a move towards authenticity in our media in general, at least in some parts of the internet. Perhaps rather than a move towards authenticity, instead a platform has been created for authenticity such that now we at least have the option for authentic content. People willing to say things that would never be allowed on mainstream media are being platformed and are growing strongly. At the same time, this creates bubbles throughout the internet, and it creates some diversity of opinion. It is more about the approach that people take to these ideas and whether they hold them as absolutes or instead see them critically, using the merits and discarding the faults. If you hold these new ideas as absolutes, bubbles will be created. If you see these ideas critically and maintain your curiosity, you won’t see these bubbles created. Instead, you will find yourself more informed and able to grapple with these ideas in ways that generations before you never had the opportunity for. In this way, I guess we are at a fork in the road. With the volume and diversity of opinions on the internet, we can either become more concretely divided than we ever have before, or we can become more connected and allow the best ideas to float to the top. I have hope that the latter will come true, but seeing the conversations often had on Twitter, in YouTube comments or on Facebook makes me despair that this future is not possible. And it’s probably not our fault, as a generation. We were never properly taught how to critically think about these things. We were never taught to tease out the good ideas from an argument and to understand the faults of the bad ideas. Instead, we were trained for the environment that we inhabit. We live in a world where the vast majority of jobs, rather than requiring critical thinking and creativity, instead require the ability to follow orders. This is simply the structure of our corporate tyrannies. In this way, it is barely the fault of the educators – they were simply doing their job. There is a real debate to have over whether anyone truly understands how the system works. Perhaps even those at the top were just a product of their environment. Perhaps not even they understand the implications that their massive corporations have on the fabric of our society, the way our schools are run, the way our media works and the way our people work. Regardless of whether there are any competent, evil people at the top who are conscious of the whole system, the solution is the same – independent media. The reality in any empire is that the physical might of the majority could easily overwhelm the power of the minority if it were organised and motivated enough. In order to subjugate the majority, the powerful minority require shared fictions to justify their power. The treatment of the budget like a household is one of these shared fictions. Another is the assumption that corporations need to be operated as effective tyrannies. Yet another is the idea that our media landscape is healthy. While believing in these fictions, it is difficult for the disempowered majority to find the motivation to overwhelm the otherwise unjustified power of the minority. In order to dismantle these fictions and offer some semblance of motivation and organisation to this subjugated majority, we require a healthy independent media landscape that is investigative and critical of the powers that be. Should this be present, the system as we know it collapses. An independent media landscape would dismantle these fictions and communicate how easily a better nation could be created. But so long as the mainstream media maintains control, there is no hope for substantial change. And we must be pragmatic in the intervening period between now and the point at which independent media holds enough control to influence elections. I am as idealistic as anyone, but there is a difference between being idealistic and being absolutist. Being an absolutist is as effective as it is attractive. The bubbles that seem to be created on social media are a stain on our democracy. And yet they are extremely profitable. As with many things, it’s quite easy to see why they are created – money for corporations. Advertisements sold, products sold, everyone winning out except the consumers of the useless products and information. Not to be an absolutist about this subject – there is certainly value in social media when used well. My job is made far easier with the presence of substantiative social media commentary. But this commentary usually requires a search rather than a scroll. More to come.