The "Great American [Democratic] Experiment" is nearing its end. Ironically, its demise has been brought about by the two things that seemed to be its central pillars: a laissez-faire approach to free enterprise and technological innovation.
Technology has helped lower the entry barriers to broadcasting which has allowed niche players to target market segments. Free enterprise has allowed the news to become the "news business" rather than the Fourth Estate. And because of its love of unfettered free enterprise these new targeted "news" entities have been unregulated, allowing them to disseminate lies and conspiracy theories that have undermined the foundations of society, namely trust in its essential institutions. Technology, here specifically the Internet and social media platforms, has exacerbated the problem by channeling communication into separate echo-chambers that are disconnected from each other and, in many cases, from fact.
As has been noted in earlier posts (2016, 2017), absent trust in the essential institutions that allow society to function, it will ultimately collapse. We are now on the edge of a precipice with a clear choice ahead; we can decide to give up on the absolutist notion of freedom of speech Fox bangs on about and choose to regulate news organizations in such a way as to ensure they provide a useful function to society rather than a destructive one.
And we must not be shy about calling out patently stupid ideas when we see them; one may usefully debate whether evidence supports the proposition that income tax cuts spur economic growth or that immigration depressed wages, but there is no good reason to join a discussion in which one party claims the other is part of a secret society engaged in Satanic child sex trafficking ring run from a Pizza parlor (or whatever the latest nonsense is). Those who believe that nonsense deserve some pity, medical treatment for insanity (fortunately covered under Obama care); but not a seat at the table.
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