Is there a blinkered view of all this?
We are told that Facebook has harvested our details, our likes, dislikes and views; that it knows more about what makes us tick than we do. We are told that they have given these details to Cambridge Analytica who targeted identified voters with designed propaganda and thus influenced elections.
We are told that we are being manipulated, brainwashed and influenced by the psychological ploys used by these giants of social media coupled with unscrupulous companies/political parties/countries with cynical political motives.
We are told the Russians have used social media to influence the election of Trump. We are told various groups deliberately targeted selected audiences with propaganda to facilitate Brexit. We are told that this harvesting of information about us; this use of algorithms and fake news, exaggeration and lies, is a threat to democracy.
I agree it is. But where is the outcry about our media – the scandalous tabloids with their constant diet of lies and propaganda? Their distortion of the truth? Where is the outcry about the bias of our TV and the way they portray political views and personalities? Why is this preposterous bias not a disruption of democracy every bit as much as the social media interference?
The media is used by the establishment to support their interests. The rich control it all. Yet they are outraged when other people start getting involved.
Democracy depends on unbiased news. We’ve never had that yet! The establishment run the show, control the newspapers and media and can afford to make use of firms like Cambridge Analytica.
We are being manipulated!
For years! Not a new thing, I think…
No, sadly it isn’t new. But our gutter press is disgusting and gets away with murder. The establishment runs the show.
Unfortunately, you are correct in your analysis. We have always been manipulated. Prior to the days of a literate, educated society, voters were manipulated from the pulpit and on the hustings. As public education made itself felt, the mass media: TV, radio, and newspapers primarily, manipulated us. Just recently, social media joined the manipulative fray with the most effective tools yet developed. Happily, I use social media less and less. The day is coming when I’ll close all of my accounts. In the meantime, awareness of the manipulation will spread and the voters who can think for themselves will vote accordingly. Good post, Opher!
I hope you are right about the awareness of manipulation spreading. My observations are that people are rejecting the mainstream propaganda as fake news but turning to even more dubious sources.