The Echo Chamber Myth
The blogosphere, for all its virtues, too often mirrors Sunstein’s image of large groups of people engaging in mutual intellectual back-scratching, rather than challenging their own convictions.” – Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science in New Scientist
I find it ironic to read such attacks on the blogosphere in publications like the New Scientist that rarely if ever present opinions that differ from the editorial agenda of the magazine. Invariably the attacks charge the blogosphere with being an “echo chamber” of ideas instead of a place that challenges participants convictions.The New Scientist is primarily a science magazine, which is why I read it. However it regularly expresses political opinions that invariably attack Conservatives and glorify Liberals – as in this review of Al Gore’s The Assault on Reason. Think I’m exaggerating? Here’s how the book review ended:
The Assault on Reason isn’t the kind of volume that ought to be judged by standard norms of literary criticism; it’s far too historic for that. Reading it, your mind is very much elsewhere: on the catastrophic failed presidency of George W. Bush, and – if only Gore had taken office instead – what might have been.
That’s from a book review – in a science magazine.
You want an echo chamber, pick up the New York Times and try to find a positive story about the Bush Administration. Watch CNN and try to find a positive story about Iraq. How about your local newspaper or favorite news magazine. All these sources invariably offer the same opinions, the same tired cliches, quote the same sources, and offer the same opinions. Even the New Scientist ignores arguments and evidence that challenges the belief that global warming is NOT caused by humans.
I mention this today because one of the posters on this thread thought I had banned him because I disagreed with his take on the JFK assassination. I hadn’t. Hell, I welcomed his opinion because it showed that someone reads my writing (always a good thing for a writer’s ego) and it challenged my beliefs.
A healthy immune system is one that requires regular challenges by pathogens. In fact there is some evidence that the rise of autoimmune diseases like Lupus, asthma and others may be caused by modern living in a relatively clean environment. I believe that the body of one’s opinions needs regular challenges in order to become stronger. However, the analogy ends there because there are times when the idea that you accept the idea challenging you, and your opinion changes. That has happened to me on ideas such as Israel, gun control, capital punishment and recently, global warming.
In the case of the poster on the JFK thread, it turns out the Spam Killer that protects this site decided his comments were spam and pulled them. I’ve re-added his comments and will continue to watch the program to see if the program begins pulling others. However, the only time I will pull a comment is one that takes an ad hominem attack on me or one of the other posters. I do this for fun, and will not tolerate abuse of any sort.
Does this make my site an echo chamber? How about Dean’s World – where I post along with such people as Aziz Poonwalla, Michael Demmons, Ali Eteraz, and Kevin D – all of whom I regularly disagree with on nearly every topic imaginable?
The blogosphere is much more vibrant than the printed media. It isn’t perfect but it isn’t the echo chamber that writers in true echo chambers like New Scientist thinks.
Dean's World:
What Echo Chamber?
I’m getting pretty annoyed when I read Media criticism of the blogosphere calling it an echo chamber – especially in a science magazine that never questions Global Warming orthodoxy or fails to fawn over a liberal politician like…
30 July 2007, 9:02 amBlue Collar Heresy:
[...] Why do I mention this? Because Scott Kirwin, a contributing author at one of my favorite political/science/tech blogs, Dean’s World, is up in arms at his personal site over talk that the blogosphere might be an “echo chamber”. [...]
30 July 2007, 8:43 pmChad:
Hey I had to spamlist the “university update” site a few times before it took. There are a bunch of sites on that same host that are spammers…
31 July 2007, 1:42 pmAdministrator:
Chad
31 July 2007, 3:02 pmThanks. I didn’t know what that was.