Goodwin is right to not overstate his claim; the meaningless pursuit of the completion high (and all the vices that accompany it) can be found amongst myriad modern media. But while his analysis on the issue is illuminating, I cannot help but feel that part of the argument is missing. For his lament to gain …
Monthly Archives: April 2010
What’s Wrong With the Internet: II
In the words of a favorite comic, something is wrong on the internet. In a previous essay, I demolished the notion that how we consume information on the internet, specifically the process of distilling and refining who we read, contributes to the “crisis” of political polarization in our country. So thorough was my excoriation of …
CONCUR: TWO CHEERS FOR THE INTERNET
I would just add a few thoughts to this discussion, both in the hopes of tempering Mr. Goodwin’s boundless libertarian optimism and adding some historical perspective. Do we really think it’s simply true that the anonymity of the internet fosters extremism, or to put it less hyperbolically, immoderation? Consider ancient Athens at, say, 350 or …