post-information age
Thanks
>The enormous amounts of information available to us all thanks to the Net
>is a wonderful thing, it is not a problem. It is how we deal with the
>anxiety it can create that can be a problem. Perhaps the cure for
>information obesity is simply a sensible diet…
Perhaps we are entering a post-information age, or a time when too much
information is as disabling as not having enough. It was only in the 60’s
(so I am told), that the Communist part had a printing press hidden in a
shed in Bendigo waiting for the revolution. And the crusty old bloke that
had the skills to run the thing, was one of the most important people in
the organisation. Perhaps now we are going too far in the other direction.
We have so much information, that we are disabled by it. Disable the
illusion, go to the library.
When I grew up in Tasmania in the 80’s, we only had two television
stations, the ABC and a commercial station. There were also only two radio
stations, the ABC and another station that played near-death reflective
tunes. Both stations ended at 11.00PM each night. The only newspapers were
the Advocate, a parochial Christian luvin rag, and the mainland Herald Sun.
Tasmania is also perhaps one of the most democratic parts of the nation,
certainly one of the more politicised regions (I love the way they nail the
election candidates portraits to the gum trees). I grew up through the
Franklin Dam debate as well as the Wesley Vale Pulp mill. The later was a 2
billion dollar development in one of the most economically depressed
regions of the country. There were pro-mill advertisements on television
every 10 minutes or so on television for weeks, and almost no opposition
media. The mill was never built, the people didn’t want it. They used the
political tools at their disposal to stop it. The media didn’t matter.
I also remember that we used to have a media black out a couple of day
before an election. This was so people could stop and think about their
choices. They made these choices in a number of ways, who they trust, the
policies that were important, the party that most supported their class or
had looked after them in the past.
We live in a culture, it is bigger than us. America has just taken over the
surface of Australia (and the superficial). We have our own hierarchies
based on our own history and meritocracies. We are importing McDemocracy,
the cheap popularist 5 minute version of the US (thorough its media), the
the veneer of democracy. It resembles democracy like McDonalds resembles food!
There are a lot of globalisations happening, the media is just one of them.
People have personal, and cultural, and family histories. The media doesn’t
understand this. Media people deal with daily generalisations, this is
their craft. I see a world in the future when there is just so much media,
where everyone knows everything about all the evils of the world, but it
changes nothing. Media subversion is very important now, but only for the
next five minutes. We also need to understand our democratic tools.
There has been a lot or research done that supports the thesis that
advertising is not cost effective: that the media only exists because of
its duopoly relationship with advertisers (in which we all pay for in the
products that we buy). Perhaps we could also find our selves in a similar
situation with media and subversive information. A duopoly between
corporate main-stream media and subversive information. We are all so
tied-up with cold-war ideas of restricted information flows, that we have
become obsessed with the process of subversion rather than the outcomes. We
only understand the popular surface of democracy, rather that its inner
workings. I am not sure where all this goes, but just get the vibe that
things are a changing man. I’m an educated bloke, I have always filtered
information. Perhaps the key is more education, not more information.
Information is making us stupid, it is oppressing us. My life is a series
of media releases with a string through the middle.
Anyway, I am going to the Napier Hotel now in Fitzroy, it is 10.30 on
Friday. If anyone is in the area, drop in and have a beer.
warm regards,