This is my first diary. I'm writing it the day Barack Obama was nominated the democratic party's nominee for president. I'd wish to address this historic event, but I don't have any particularly original thing to say about it, so I'll leave those kinds of diaries to other writers.
What I will address, however, is process. Specifically, the process by which our country operates.
Even more specifically - the process of information dissemination. We've lived predominately in a paradigm of mass communication that acts like a massive bullhorn to a crowd. We're moving more towards a paradigm of mass discussion, more like a very big dinner table discussion.
But how do we truly foster the discussion and communication that we need?
"The media sucks." That's a main mantra here at Daily Kos. There are plenty of diaries about that. I think the convention coverage is as good as any example of their terribleness - they cover themselves, not the convention.
Also to note: I think arguments can be made about both 'liberal media bias' and 'conservative media bias.' The media is that bad. "They cover the horse race not the issues, with the 24 hour news cycle they get caught up in the wrong things, etc etc etc." All the regular arguments. Conclusion: media sucks
"The internet sucks." Look at any discussion thread on youtube or cnn.com and you get angry idiotic people who just like seeing their stupid blather polluting discussion. Anonymity on the internet makes it easy for the idiot in all of us to come out. Also, since you are not spoon-fed the internet, but instead you seek out certain websites, it is very easy to live in your comfort zone on the internet. The Daily Kos community is a prime example, and we all know it.
Each information world - the 'mainstream' or 'traditional' media, internet communities, what-have-you - has its good sides as well. The traditional media can bring important stories to light, and blogs can help do the same a bit faster and from more places than ever before, all in spite of their aforementioned faults.
But what does this paradigm do for our society?
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Lets break it down to the core questions.
- First, we're talking about information. Events. Facts. What's happening. What people are doing. History. Etc.
Basically: we want up-to-date, accurate, full-coverage, relevant, in-depth information. (any other adjectives I forgot?)
- Second, we're talking about what we DO with this information.
We want to take the facts of the world and analyze them and act on them so that we make society better. And we want to do this with the best information possible so that we can make the best decisions possible.
We want to take the 'what's happening' and work within that so that we can be successful in making society better.
I would argue that on the 'Gathering Information' side, we need all levels of reporters, researchers, or 'info-gatherers', whatever you want to call them.
They all have different abilities and expertise.
I would also argue that it is healthiest for society when you have all levels of people across society engaging with the information and weighing in. Then people not only feel included, but also can give their own unique insights and viewpoints.
What we have now is a society where (as I see it):
-SOME people get information and give a voice to it on blogs
-SOME people get information and shout it to the world in the media
-CERTAIN GROUPS of people read certain blogs and discuss it all within their group
-SOME people who pay attention to the media discuss what they hear with their own circles of people they know (if they are even the discussing type)
-POLITICIANS maneuver amidst all of this messy information dissemination and messy tribalized discussion and somehow get enough people to check a box for them so they can live in their OWN circle of messy information and messy discussion, making VERY IMPORTANT DECISIONS, often with terrible information and terrible discussion and problem solving
MY POINT
-HOW do we demand THE BEST information
-HOW do we foster THE BEST discussion
How do we move to a new media that does REAL reporting? How do we encourage more active participation by the public so that more information is put out there?
How do we get people interested and engaged enough to discuss? How do we foster a discussion space where people can examine the information as it is and go from there? How do we create good full healthy public discussion where people don't run to their camps, but actually talk to each other about the core problems and weigh the different options of action?
So it's not just about the media, but about the public, information, and the decision-making process. When the public participates more fully and the discussion is moved to a practical, substantive level, then the politicians, policy-makers, and decision-makers, will be that much better as a bare minimum as well.
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A dose of realism:
With billions of people in the world with different cultures, it's hard to get the information out there and hard to get good decisions.
With millions of people in a country with different political views, it's hard to get the information out there and hard to get good decisions.
With thousands of people in a city with different jobs and lives, it's hard to get the information out there and hard to get good decisions.
With four people in a family with their different ideas about life, it's hard to get the people to LISTEN to the information you present them, and hard to get the people to to agree.
It's not an easy task to examine the information and make decisions in a democracy at any level.
But we definitely could be doing a lot better.
So I ask anyone who stumbles into this meandering post:
-How do we demand the BEST information?
-How do we foster the BEST discussion?
Because ultimately, we NEED the BEST decisions, the BEST problem-solving.
UPDATE I guess I should title my diaries more to the point I'm trying to make...
People are making good comments about how the media is structured, but another main point of my diary was about discussion.
Is there a better way to do online communities, for example? Daily Kos is fun, but having choirs all over the country preaching to themselves doesn't really help society.
So...don't just comment about the media, but about public discussion too.