Internet Blues
Like a lot of people, I have a tendency to think of the Internet as a place; a kind of library or museum, or a reference work such as an encyclopedia. In fact, despite the capital “I”, it’s just a collection of computer networks exchanging data. If it’s a library, it’s one without a Dewey Decimal System and one that gives even weight to Fyodor Dostoevsky and my crazy Uncle Louie’s ravings about government UFO cover-ups. If it’s a museum, it contains Miros and Picassos alongside little Jimmy’s third grade doodles once held up by refrigerator magnets. And, if it’s an encyclopedia, it’s made up of unorganized entries written either by experts in their fields or simply by someone sitting in the middle of a field with a little time on his hands.
All of this puts a burden on the user to make an attempt to discern the difference between the gold and the pyrite. It’s not enough to say, “I found it on the Internet” in part because no such real entity exists. Some sites, of course, are more reliable than others, but, still, the speed at which faulty information can be spread throughout the world is mindboggling. Add to that the fact that, once it’s out there, such misinformation is nearly impossible to remove from the great Internet cloud, and you have the ingredients for an information superhighway with a lot of dangerous off-ramps.
Its strength is also its weakness. The fact that there’s no central authority to check or file or add or omit makes it the great egalitarian creation of our time. (I’d thank Al Gore for that, but is that piece of “information” one of those Internet myths? I’d better check.) But that same lack of vetting makes it an enormous repository of half-truths and untruths. I haven’t looked at it in years, but the last time I peeked, the Wikipedia entry on “Pat Sajak” contained fourteen errors. Still, when a trusted friend sends me a link or a cut-and-paste copy of something, I tend to give it more weight, forgetting that he or she might be merely the messenger delivering information that may or may not be completely reliable.
I mention all this, in part, because I’ve posted a couple of items recently here on Ricochet that could very well be untrue to one degree or another. One was sent to me by one of those trusted friends of mine, although, on closer inspection, I find he was merely forwarding something one of his trusted friends had sent to him. It was a piece supposedly recently written by humorist and Monty Python alumnus John Cleese. Well, it turns out Cleese probably didn’t write it, and, in fact, similar versions of the same piece had turned up years earlier attributed to others. But it certainly sounded like something Cleese would write, and my trusted friend is really trustworthy, and maybe Cleese did write it, and, I’m sure if I had more time, I could come up with some other justifications.
Another brief post was a quote by George Washington that I saw on a generally reliable site, but a few more clicks on my computer would have placed the source for the quote in doubt. It turns out George Washington is a lot like Yogi Berra in that each of them has quotes attributed to him merely because they sound like something he would have said. I can, however, report with great certitude that there were also many ways in which the two men are dissimilar.
Getting as close as you can to the truth has always been a challenge, and misinformation has circulated ever since there’ve been two people or more available to talk to each other. Now, however, millions of people can share the same wrong information at almost exactly the same time. When so many voices are saying the same thing, it simply must by true. After all, I saw it on the Internet.
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May '10
Re: Internet Blues
As great as Washington was he never learned to hit a curveball or a breaking pitch. And as Casey Stengel would say, "You could look it up (on the internet)!"
Re: Internet Blues
Culture warp: I was in a library not too long ago, and couldn't recall how to use the Dewey Decimal system. My first thought was to Google how to do it.
Pat you do have to be very careful about stuff found on the web.
Before I'll hold something as true, I try to see it held out as true on a variety of websites, particularly ones I trust (I know that is far from foolproof, but it seems to work OK for the most part).
When in doubt I use "It's been reported on ..." That way if the info turns out not to be true, you aren't wrong - only the source is wrong.
Jun '10
Re: Internet Blues
Even the old family stories aren't always true. There might be a legend that your family tradition of eating venison on Thanksgiving was started because venison was the other meat (besides turkey) that the Pilgrims ate, and your history-loving great-grandpa wanted the children to have a real authentic American experience, eating Pilgrim food. But the truth is, it was the Depression, and the day before Thanksgiving Great-grandpa saw a truck hit a deer and just leave the deer behind. It was free meat.
Sep '10
Re: Internet Blues
You perfectly catch the postmodern situation, Pat, in words I totally understand. Everything yet nothing pertains, suggesting, for me, a mechanical question: is it a misinformation problem or an error problem? Obviously, there's a great deal of misinformation being thrown about the Internet, but no more inherently true, to my mind, is that asserted by the bombastic, gate-keeping media. If you're up for a trek, you can usually pretty neatly determine what links to keep and which to file away as context. It's the casual observance that has taken a hit; the studied one, not so much (as your prose so aptly shows).
Edited on May 10, 2011 at 7:35amOct '10
Re: Internet Blues
Pat, the reason I forwarded the Cleese piece to some family members was not because it was Cleese, but because it was funny! So even if you were "wrong" in your attribution, you were right to post it, because it was good. And also because it was a harmless wrong if it was wrong. IMHO.
Mar '11
Re: Internet Blues
I suspect this makes you a finalist for next week's TWIG on the Hinderaker-Ward Experience.
Sep '10
Re: Internet Blues
My favorite internet myths-cum-genuine stories include those pertaining to astronomy, such as, "Tonight, Mars is going to appear as big as the full moon in the sky!" Swallowed whole by otherwise normally functioning people, a moment's reflection on what would actually have to happen to make this true apparently is more reflection than many are willing to expend to bust myths like these.
Jan '11
Re: Internet Blues
Well, let's hold up a moment. Are we working on the premise that everything published or broadcast before the internet was verified and guaranteed to be true? The trust people placed in Walter Cronkite was ... misplaced.
Caveat emptor.
Re: Internet Blues
EJHill
As great as Washington was he never learned to hit a curveball or a breaking pitch. And as Casey Stengel would say, "You could look it up (on the internet)!" · May 10 at 7:18am
Also, because of his height, Washington reportedly had difficulty squatting.
May '11
Re: Internet Blues
I have experienced frustration with individuals using the "Internet" and websites as the new standard. I was once treated to a barrage of anti-religious quotes from someone all attributed to John Adams. Feeling somewhat dubious as to the validity I asked the person who sent them to me to cite the source. I followed the proffered link and then followed their link citation to another site and so on to six different website until the last one actually pointed me back to the first site. The following day I took a trip to the Free Library of Philadelphia and investigated. Not surprisingly I could not find a single one anywhere.
I knew right then that the future was going to hold a vast treasure trove (I figured if every news source in the land can over use that why not throw it in. ;-) of false, misquoted, twisted and freely edited citations. My concern, long-winded in arrival, is that we must find a way to raise standards because people have become complacent in the face of these errors and many simply choose to believe what fits their personal prejudice regardless of accuracy... danger Will Robinson, danger!
Re: Internet Blues
My quasi-celebrity status has invited a number of Internet oddities. A friend sent a link to a post in which someone supposedly saw me berate a pregnant women sitting in coach for attempting to use the first class lavatory. The poster says I then took my gripes to the flight attendant. Of course the story was misleading. They left out the part about her cast and crutches.
Oct '10
Re: Internet Blues
KC Mulville: Well, let's hold up a moment. Are we working on the premise that everything published or broadcast before the internet was verified and guaranteed to be true? The trust people placed in Walter Cronkite was ... misplaced.
Caveat emptor. · May 10 at 8:03am
Now you've spoiled it. Do you mean that the first draft of history might have a few errors in it?
Jul '10
Re: Internet Blues
You mean George Washington didn't say, "It ain't over 'til it's over"?
Jun '10
Re: Internet Blues
One of the greatest quotes on our duty as free men and women to protect our freedom to fight evil: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." And it was uttered by the father of conservatism: Edmund Burke.
Except that it wasn't. You'll find it all over Web attributed to Burke. The problem is that no one has ever been able to find it in any of writings or from a witness who heard him say it.
So, since Burke didn't say it, I am now attributing it to myself (I just uttered it aloud), and would appreciate a proper attribution from all future users.
Jul '10
Re: Internet Blues
Oh, that was just a cultural misunderstanding. The term "huge fat pig cow" is a term of endearment in the Chicago Polish community.
Re: Internet Blues
KC Mulville: Well, let's hold up a moment. Are we working on the premise that everything published or broadcast before the internet was verified and guaranteed to be true? The trust people placed in Walter Cronkite was ... misplaced.
Caveat emptor. · May 10 at 8:03am
With all due respect, it's apples and oranges. Of course there's always been misinformation out there, whether intentional or unintentional. The difference is one of degree. It's not deciding among a relative handful of points of view; it's sifting through millions of articles and data and posts and re-posts, but with virtually no guideposts. Errors are not only transmitted, but endlessly retransmitted. It's a worldwide echo chamber. But, in the end, you are correct in that it's always caveat emptor.
Re: Internet Blues
Some enterprising person should start a website listing commonly misquoted material.
On second thought, I guess that's what Snopes does. But Snopes can be a tad partisan when it comes to opinions vs facts.
Jan '11
Re: Internet Blues
I confess to being trigger-happy on this point. We often hear the old media types (e.g., Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather) bemoan the modern age, and they plead that we should all flee back to the intellectual safety of Mother Network. Never again.
For the same reason, I think "fact-checkers" are the biggest scam going.
I'm not a big fan of people nominating themselves as political referees.
May '10
Re: Internet Blues
It's a little bit library, a little bit museum, a little bit encyclopedia. . .and a little bit psychotic nightmare out of Jorge Luis Borges.
Mar '11
Re: Internet Blues
And the problem of the Internet as a primary source of information--and a source that is not sufficiently questioned--is only going to get worse. As a former college professor, I saw firsthand how few students did any research via any source other than the Internet or even knew how to do research beyond "googling" their desired subject. And I quit teaching six years ago. I can only imagine how library illiterate today's college students are.