RANTS: DROWNING IN THE DIGITAL AGE

"WORSHIPING THE ELECTRONIC IMAGE", BY CHRIS HEDGES

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I thought I would draw you attention to a recent, excellent article by Pulitzer-prize winning author Chris Hedges in the online newszine, Truthdig. Hedges alerts us to dangers of digital media, and how the format and functioning of all our ‘apps’ and screens and so on shapes the content and ultimately limits our understanding of the world and our ability to communicate with one another. 

Hedges states that our fixation on electronic images, on the bits and bites of information constantly streamed at us, “is lacking in complexity and nuance. It is devoid of historical, social or cultural context. TV news speaks in easily digestible clichés and political and cultural tropes. It is sensational and fragmented.”       

One bit of information flows into another until they become a incoherent torrent, each sound bite and vid capture vying for our attention until news and information become little more than vehicles for entertainment. 
He discusses a favourite book of mine by Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, in which the author speculates that, since the age of the telegraph, news and information have become increasingly de-textualized; in other words they have been losing the continuity and depth, the history and complexity of thought previously found in the medium of print, much to the detriment of public discourse in general. It is this complexity and richness the printed word provides that is being lost today in our fast-paced, digitized, bit-bite world.

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Hedges’ column has much food for thought—it’s a meal, rather than the quick McThink snacks we’re used to these days. And yes, maybe it is time for Snake's solution. [And it can't hurt that Snake is played by a steely...um...one-eyed Kurt Russell, with his square-jawed, manly determination, and knowing what's right all the time...well, who wouldn't want him for a bro-pal? Gosh!]