Birds of a Feather...

In Cass Sunstein’s article about the effect of the internet on society, he states incorrect assumptions in order to rationalize and convey his own message... ‘That the exponential growth of the internet shares a causational relationship with the demise of human interaction and original thought’ (or so at least that is my interpretation).

For instance, Sunstein contends that the internet is most effective in bringing primarily like-minded people together and has inherent, unseen filters that direct people to other internet users with similar views and opinions. This notion is not new or revolutionary outside the realm of the internet. “Birds of a feather flock together!” It’s human nature to want to surround yourself with people that are similar to you; whether based on political affiliation, religion, age, hobbies, etc. It is ignorant of Sunstein to conclude that the internet is to blame for the polarized tendencies of a nation so detached from the political arena that they are statistically more likely to vote for the next American Idol than vote in an off-year election!

Henry Jenkins was smart to point out the complimentary relationship of the internet and “old media” outlets. I agree, wholeheartedly, with his emphasis of the importance of looking at the bigger picture, in that the internet will not be the end of television, just as the invention of the television did not mark the end of the newspaper (as some had hypothesized at its infancy).