The World of Sam Reynolds

By taking a quick trip across the World Wide Web, through the series of tubes dubiously dubbed the information superhighway, one will easily come across data  supporting of any argument. A quick survey of the general populous would reveal that a surprising number of people firmly believe such fallacies like that 9/11 was the work of the CIA, recently elected President Barack Obama is a closet Muslim, or that the heavens and the earth were created in five business days and a workaholic weekend. And what is the first source cited when these arguments  are drawn into question? The internet.

The internet has become a reservoir of remonstrance against the truth. The overproduction of information has had a rather ironic effect on society – ignorance. Despite being more educated then ever the Google generation seems to have a serve dietary deficit of Knowledge. Information specially tailored to advance an argument is available only keystrokes away. Staying within one’s ideological camp is no longer a luxury, but a way of life. Discourse has been simply stymied to who can present their information and scream the loudest.

To find a perfect example of this movement one need only peer into the bibliography of a highschooler’s, or even first year college student’s paper. Instead of citing from peer reviewed books and journals, more likely to be found are dot coms disguised as legitimate sources of information but more often than not are merely the lunitical rantings of the webmaster. Googling a topic has the simulacrum of legitimate research in the minds of many; a trend which leads to confusion and the drift away from truth.

So how exactly did we get at this knowledge recession? By the over-production of bogus information. Whether it be 527s (A lobby group created to influence the outcome of a candidate to office) working in Washington, or church groups funding Christian Science thinktanks, there are powers which have the sole purpose of creating disinformation for export to the web. Since websites are the exclusive domain of the owner they are not subject to fact checking like a wiki. Legitimate knowledge can’t be created out of thin air, or through studies which obscenely defy the scientific process. Knowledge can only be produced through consensus and peer review. To get out of this intellectual slump we as a society need to veer away from using unverifiable and ideologically charged sources as our only portal to knowledge – simply encourage academic responsibility.