basicwiz opened this issue on Aug 30, 2012 · 134 posts
moriador posted Fri, 14 September 2012 at 7:48 AM
Steven Pinker does a nice TED talk on the subject that, I think, is worth watching:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ramBFRt1Uzk
He also believes that technology that increases communication tends to enable greater empathy and a higher valuation of other people.
Neo-Nazis can reach a larger audience than the original Nazis? Really? I think during WW2 and the decades following, most literate adults had a pretty decent understanding of Nazi ideology and the names of the major political figures involved in their rise to power.
Can you actually, with confidence and without looking it up, name any Neo-Nazi leaders and list off their organization's current major goals? And even if you can, would you expect your neighbor to be able to do it or the cashier at the grocery store? I rather think the Neo-Nazis -- not the dissatisfied unemployed and under educated youth who borrow their symbols as a justification for rioting and vandalism, but an actual political organization -- are in fact pretty darned obscure. They have an implied historical link to the political party they take their name from, and even so I'll bet very, very few people really care about them.
How about Baader Meinhof, Red Brigades, ETA -- I'm told these guys are actually still active. Really? Well, if they are, they are not reaching a big enough international audience to get my attention. Even with the internet. I mean, they can reach people who are actively looking for them -- but preaching to the choir doesn't really net many fresh converts.
The internet is overwhelmingly a force for cooperation and the peaceful dissemination of ideas. The nasty voices are loud and they do get our attention at times, but they are still drowned out by the rest. That's why they have to use violence to get on the news -- because their ideas aren't strong enough to hold up to the scrutiny of the masses. With the internet that scrutiny flourishes more powerfully than ever before in the history of mankind. That's why despots hate the internet.
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