We are living in modern-day Babel, “unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth.”
So says Jonathan Haidt in his disturbing essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” published in The Atlantic.
His research and findings are a little scary:
“The story of Babel is the best metaphor I have found for what happened to America in the 2010s, and for the fractured country we now inhabit. Something went terribly wrong, very suddenly. We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth. We are cut off from one another and from the past.
“It’s been clear for quite a while now that red America and blue America are becoming like two different countries claiming the same territory, with two different versions of the Constitution, economics, and American history.
“But Babel is not a story about tribalism; it’s a story about the fragmentation of everything. It’s about the shattering of all that had seemed solid, the scattering of people who had been a community. It’s a metaphor for what is happening not only between red and blue, but within the left and within the right, as well as within universities, companies, professional associations, museums, and even families.”
Haidt blames the proliferation and uncontrolled transformation of social media platforms like FaceBook and Twitter from “harmless” information disseminators to “corrosive” propaganda machines. “By 2013, social media had become a new game, with dynamics unlike those in 2008,” he wrote.” The “like” button, “retweet” option, and unfiltered comments “encouraged dishonesty and mob dynamics.”
He said the three major forces that hold together successful democracies are under attack – “social capital (extensive social networks with high levels of trust), strong institutions, and shared stories.”
Research shows, he said, “Social media has weakened all three” with its “continual chipping-away of trust.”
One key area impacted, he noted, has been the local school classroom. “The motives of teachers and administrators come into question, and overreaching laws or curricular reforms sometimes follow, dumbing down education and reducing trust in it further.”
He also cited events such as Occupy Wall Street which called for the “destruction of existing institutions without offering an alternative vision of the future or an organization that could bring it about.”
Fixing this issue will not be easy, if at all possible, Haidt laments. “American democracy is now operating outside the bounds of sustainability.” His recommended solutions: “harden democratic institutions so that they can withstand chronic anger and mistrust, reform social media so that it becomes less socially corrosive, and better prepare the next generation for democratic citizenship in this new age.”
So, who can make this happen? Haidt sees “members of Gen Z – those born in and after 1997” as American democracy’s potential saviors.
Can we survive until then?
Take time to read Haidt’s essary yourself at https://www.theatlantic.com/
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” – Ephesians 4:32.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson.
10 comments:
God will cleanse this fetid earth again soon. The 12,000 year disaster cycle is quickly coming to an end. Remember that in a 12,000 year cycle, it’s really bot too late to be 10 years late (2012)
Throughout history man has demonstrated an inability to match social maturity to his advancements in technology. It's nothing new. The children of the new technology MUST learn the manners and customs necessary to use the technology without destroying themselves. The generation of their parents cannot do it, they are overwhelmed by the flood of information. But at least we have the advantage of discipline and we can insist that our grandchildren are taught the limitations of these information platforms, and to take it seriously or democracy as we know it will soon end. Too much information is like too much of anything else if you can't handle it.
Rather than trying to fix everyone else, positive change happens at the individual level. The Golden Rule is a timeless classic.
Also, I think it was Ghandi who summed it up nicely when he said "Be the change you want to see in the world."
Those are simple solutions that work. But they aren't really attractive if we're caught up in chasing fame by the shortest route possible.
Self-centeredness and selfishness are the problem, in my opinion.
He talks about "social media" as if it sprung forth from nowhere, and not as something owned and controlled by billionaires. There's a reason it (and other media) has become so divisive. It is to keep us so entangled in culture wars that we can't mount an effective, concerted movement to defend ourselves.
@2.30
I agree but don’t forget about the surveillance aspect too. Imagine how delighted the alphabet agencies would’ve been during the cold war if they had so much voluntary personal information at their fingertips. And most normies (sheeple) are so obvious that they do not even understand the significance of facebook renaming themselves to “meta” and google renaming themselves to “alphabet”
Social media spreads hate at the speed of light.
On the topic of social media: The growing trend of teens and those in their 20's of aspiring to become "social media influencers" is alarming to me. What, besides the hope of making a lot of money and maybe gaining internet popularity, is so appealing about this? Call me uninformed or plainly ignorant, for someone in his 40's, but I would like to read others' opinions about this.
To me, this seems the equivalent of many high school & college basketball or football players who set their sights only on making it to the NBA or NFL . . . without being conscious or realizing that the chances of making that far is a tiny fraction of something less than 1%.
Sounds like an interesting article appeared in The Atlantic.
Appears that Bill didn't have time, or didn't want to spend writing a column this week. Did a great job of typing on his keyboard quotes from the article though. Think there were a dozen of his own words out of the normal 800.
Social Media/remote phones were given to us 20/25 years to soon. We as a whole simply were not ready for what came with the advancements. WE THE PEOPLE were already in a social rut coming out of the 60's and had not yet recovered. Now we are going backwards at warp speed with no brakes.
Precise readers of JJ comments will see a tip-off in this column that, without anonymity, would prove that Crawford deposit comments here himself anonymously.
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