Comment by chiefalchemist | Hacker News Reader

Comment by chiefalchemist | Hacker News Reader

> Congress should update its laws regarding political advertisers, and social media users need to “adjust to a media environment in which several dozen gatekeepers no longer control what is newsworthy.”

What is happening as been happening all along, for years. The now difference is who is doing the influencing; for what ends; and yes the how has changed but that's not really what's causing the friction.

For Stamos to suggest more people need to think for themselves, that more need to question authority more, sounds naive, at best. That is the last thing the powers that be will allow. They're fine with misinformation, they just want to sure it's their's and no one elses.

The irony is this latest "scandle" will ultimately be solved with less individual free thought, not more. It will be a psychological / emotional / intellectual nanny state. No human neuro activity too small to micro manage.

Yeah, it sounds extreme. But so would The Patriot Act pre 9-11. So would Ed Snowden before we knew about Ed Snowden. Both of these were met with barely a shrug of the shoulders. There's nothing to be fixed from Congress' pov everything is as it should be. It just needs a slight bit of adjusting.

Yeah, I think it all basically comes down to:

The internet is destroying existing power structures, and giving control to alternative media sources/platforms/whatever that people are starting to trust more than the 'mainstream' ones.

So all the hand wringing and fake news paranoia and what not feels like a desparate, last ditch attempt by those who did well before to try and cram the internet/social media genie back into the bottle before they're made irrelevant.

Does this potentially lead to authoritarianism and what not? Possibly, but the answer isn't to try and shut down freedom of speeech/independent media/any thought outside of an ever narrowing acceptable boundary, but to ask why these views are on the rise and deal with the real causes.

> "The internet is destroying existing power structures, and giving control to alternative media sources/platforms/whatever that people are starting to trust more than the 'mainstream' ones."

Yes. But not only sources of info but __more importantly__ ways for people to organize into groups. I'm not talking about protests and such but getting shit done. Traditionally, this was the role of gov and other power structures. Yes, there are now viable - and likely more effective - alternatives to such traditions.

To your point, this explains all the divisiveness. Things are being taken to extremes (by the DNC, Mainstream Media, GOP and their associated Big Inc partners) in order to maintain a belief that they need to exist and continue to hold so much power. The show also serves as a distraction.

Something has to give. But I feel history says it's going to get worse before it gets better.

>For Stamos to suggest more people need to think for themselves, that more need to question authority more, sounds naive, at best. That is the last thing the powers that be will allow. They're fine with misinformation, they just want to sure it's their's and no one elses.

Exactly. The powers want censorship, the powers want to narrow the overton window and create a society that can't think for itself. It is not beneficial for them to have a society that actually knows what's going on.

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