Re:The EARN IT act is back, and it’s more dangerous than ever
by kmeisthax on Sunday February 06, 2022 @01:01AM
(#30229900)
The Internet wasn't the first time we had free speech in both senses of the word, though. Before the era of broadcast television, the FCC running a de-facto censorship regime, and the Five Filters; everyone read newspapers to get their news. This prior era of media was a lot more like the Internet than I think a lot of people would care to admit. We had clickbait, they had yellow journalism; we had Trump, they had the Know-Nothings; etc.
One other constant shared between the pre- and post-broadcast eras of media was an extremely high level of distrust towards politicians. Why? Well, the handful of companies that owned TV broadcast licenses weren't about to start biting the hand that fed them. Also, the FCC outright banned them from pushing overtly political narratives. This ultimately acted to reduce the total amount of information voters knew about their candidates.
Let's say that you happen to have brainworms. And your local Senator promised on TV that every brainworm had a right to live in a person's head. You, obviously, vote for him. However, Congress then passes the Comprehensive Brainworm Mitigation Act of 1973. But you remember that your Senator fought for you and your brainworms, because that's all you saw of him on TV. In fact, he goes to the press and swears how he fought to tone down the brainworm bill, or included an amendment for brainworm sanctuaries.
Today? Well, the moment that the Worm Free Children Act of 2023 passes, you're already getting pings on Facebook and Twitter about how your Senator betrayed you. You hear rumors about how he secretly agreed to pass the bill months ago. Someone's already spamming you with memes about how he sleeps with earplugs in his ears, constantly in fear that a brainworm might slither into his ear canal. You're talking in realtime with millions of other brainworm hosts, all of whom are angry and planning protests against your brainworm-hating Senator.
Of course, all of that could be a complete and total fabrication. It does not matter. Defamation is dual to censorship, after all.
This actually isn't a new condition, but regression to the mean. American politics in the 1800s was chock full of people with brainworms trading wild accusations around in similar fashions. The main difference between then and now was just the speed at which news travelled, but the effects were the same.
One other constant shared between the pre- and post-broadcast eras of media was an extremely high level of distrust towards politicians. Why? Well, the handful of companies that owned TV broadcast licenses weren't about to start biting the hand that fed them. Also, the FCC outright banned them from pushing overtly political narratives. This ultimately acted to reduce the total amount of information voters knew about their candidates.
Let's say that you happen to have brainworms. And your local Senator promised on TV that every brainworm had a right to live in a person's head. You, obviously, vote for him. However, Congress then passes the Comprehensive Brainworm Mitigation Act of 1973. But you remember that your Senator fought for you and your brainworms, because that's all you saw of him on TV. In fact, he goes to the press and swears how he fought to tone down the brainworm bill, or included an amendment for brainworm sanctuaries.
Today? Well, the moment that the Worm Free Children Act of 2023 passes, you're already getting pings on Facebook and Twitter about how your Senator betrayed you. You hear rumors about how he secretly agreed to pass the bill months ago. Someone's already spamming you with memes about how he sleeps with earplugs in his ears, constantly in fear that a brainworm might slither into his ear canal. You're talking in realtime with millions of other brainworm hosts, all of whom are angry and planning protests against your brainworm-hating Senator.
Of course, all of that could be a complete and total fabrication. It does not matter. Defamation is dual to censorship, after all.
This actually isn't a new condition, but regression to the mean. American politics in the 1800s was chock full of people with brainworms trading wild accusations around in similar fashions. The main difference between then and now was just the speed at which news travelled, but the effects were the same.