The Sea of Disinformation

I encourage you to read Frank Miele’s piece at RealClearPolitics on “fake news”. Here’s a sample:

The ability to discern what we used to quaintly call “truth” from out of the information matrix that surrounds us is undoubtedly the primary survival characteristic of the next generation. With so many competing and contradictory sources of information — and an education system that devalues logic and critical thinking in favor of political correctness — only the most persistent and skeptical news consumers can be confident that they have an understanding that approximates “truth.”

I think he’s simultaneously too optimistic and too pessimistic. On the one hand I think that practically no one has the qualities of mind, understanding, and knowledge that would be required to survive if, indeed, discernment becomes a matter of survival. I don’t think it is or will be.

What I do think will happen is that, rather than the parousia of tolerance some are expecting, we will see a rapid rise in hatred as people take potshots at those they don’t understand from within their nice, cozy echo chambers.