I have been reading more and more articles here and there about how the accumulated (hmmm … what’s the word ? Density, maybe ?) of links, pictures, videos, fact-checking, and so on are contributing to a shift, finally, in the countering of spin in the case study that is the UU election campaigning.
Via the Huffington Post:
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Age has finally become an issue for John McCain. But the problem isn’t the candidate’s 72 years; it’s the antediluvian approach of his campaign.
McCain is running a textbook Rovian race: fear-based, smear-based, anything goes.
But thanks to YouTube, blogging, and instant fact-checking, it is getting harder and harder to get away with repeating brazen lies without paying a price.
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I’m not holding my breath for a total "the light of day" moment when people everywhere start paying close attention and demanding facts be the basis of all news and that major mainstream news organs begin practicing journalism and reporting that concentrates on the issues without ideology and propaganda being major factors, but … just think of where things would be now if we had not had the Internet and the capabilities of democratically-oriented self-publishing for the past decade or so.
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[…] Jon […]
It’s something I mentioned a week or so ago somewhere. The GOP was incredibly stupid in choosing Palin, not for her stupidity per se, but they totally discounted, or perhaps that should read never even considered, the fact that the interwebs would vet her. CJR recently noted that since her selection the Alaskan Daily News website has seen something in the order of a 20 fold increase in visits by people searching for information on Palin.
That the GOP did this really illustrates the fact that they don’t get technology, they don’t “grok” what’s going on out there in the real world (like we didn’t already know that). There ant-science attitudes and lack of technology understanding is proof enough, without any of the other obvious reasons, that they are not fit to lead a country in today’s world.
but they totally discounted, or perhaps that should read never even considered, the fact that the interwebs would vet her.
Hard to believe, eh ? But yes, I am aware that there are many many people that don’t use the Internet as much or in the same way(s) that people like you and I and others we know do .. and yes, also (every once in a while) knowledge is almost becoming power.
Go, wirearchy go !