Monday, June 15, 2009
quotes from the Spier article
I don’t agree with Cass Sunstein’s quote, from his book Republic.com that “the internet is replacing the physical public space where citizens are exposed to different point of view with a private place where individuals withdraw into themselves and reinforce deeply held prejudices”. There just doesn’t seem to be a basis to make a claim such as this one. As shown through Spier’s case, where he was able to come in contact with hundreds of Brown University students and many professors who shared his fervor to speak out against social injustices, there are many “real life” places to do this. Rather, I think the internet only helps to connect people with similar views. “The internet became for Spier the doorway to a public sphere that was at times the classroom, the library, the dorm and even the Internet itself. Although the Internet did not replace face-to-face meetings and brainstorming sessions, it facilitated them, and in some cases enabled the discourse to extend temporarily and geographically beyond the confines of the physical setting”. It is important to not look at the internet as an alternative to reality but to look at it as a facilitator to reality. The internet is not the opposite of reality, rather it is a part of our reality.
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I absolutely agree with you, Alex. Sunstein’s quote, that “the internet is replacing the physical public space where citizens are exposed to different points of view" is skewed and not altogether accurate.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet has become a new forum that exists in cyberspace, but if anything, it has promoted different points of view and supplemented what already exists in real life. While some people do "withdraw into themselves and reinforce deeply held prejudices,” there are many more people who use the Internet as a tool to meet new people and hear varying perspectives. If nothing else, people on both sides of a debate have more of a reason to hear the other's perspective and vigorously defend their own. This is possible through a free exchange of ideas that, oftentimes, best happens online.
Each cyberexperience is different, and it has become inherently a part of each of our lives.
Alex, I also agree with you. I agree that the internet does not replace face to face encounters, because in the article it was the main way Zeke facilitated and organized meetings. However, I think that the main point of that quote was to argue that people tend to hear what they want to hear. I think that this happens in face to face discussions as well. To me what Sunstein is trying to say is that the internet is full of inaccurate information and therefore creates the risk that people will be exposed to incorrect information that they use to formulate opinions. They seek out information that supports their argument without considering the possibility that it isn't true.
ReplyDeleteThe internet is so useful because it can facilitate face-to-face encounters. Without the internet Zeke would never of been able to of met up with his fellow protesters. I found the fact that he always went to the public library first when he stopped a very interesting example of this.
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