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Communication Making The World Less Tolerant

Posted by Hemos on from the devil's-advocate-flame-war dept.

angkor writes "Interesting NY Times magazine article with a contrarian viewpoint: "In some ways, global satellite TV and Internet access have actually made the world a less understanding, less tolerant place." " Reg. required blah blah - but the point the author makes is interesting - what if all the hubbaloo about connecting people via the Internet makes us less likely to like each other?

2 of 317 comments (clear)

  1. Seeing people at their worst ... by Titusdot+Groan · · Score: 5, Interesting
    My brother is a cop and he said one of the most important things you have to do as a cop is remember that you are sometimes seeing basically good people on the worst day of their entire lives; that not everybody you meet is criminal scum.

    This is the same problem with the media; we are always seeing the culture at it's worst or only seeing the worst parts of it's culture. You don't see the bakers, clerks, teachers, nurses, doctors, scientists of a culture you see it's brutal armies and tyrannical leaders, it's terrorists and suicide bombers.

    This is the real source of intolerance -- you never see anything from the bulk of foreign cultures that are worth saving.

  2. Education is the key by ZigMonty · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The sad thing is that our education systems don't teach us to question the news. I remember being in my social studies class and we read the the news and treated it like it was all the facts.

    Here in Australia, we in High School (senior year) had a term topic called "Representations of Truth" which basically drilled into us a distrust of everything the media says. Apparently, courses like this come up about every ten years or so but, usually, they're gone in a year or two. Someone doesn't like it.

    IMHO, the article's right. The big problem is the one-sidedness of the media. The Egyptian youth only see pictures glorifying suicide bombers, while we only see pictures of barbarians who dared to attack the West, the torchbearer of everything that is good and just in the world </sarcasm>.

    The people who said global media would bring peace weren't wrong. We just *don't have* a global media. We have two separate propaganda machines, one on the Islamic side (or wherever) and one on our side. We need full, unbiased reporting, not the fear and hate mongering that has filled our screens since September 11. The media shapes public opinion. Most people will believe what they're told to believe.

    But then again, I'm just a kid. What would I know?