Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in
1964 by the Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan contained the
often quoted "The medium is the message", which is the name of the
first chapter in his book.
It is purported that the intent of the line is that what
technology is used to convey a message is a foundational part of the message. The
‘experts’ seem to be saying that ‘the science’ says that reading about a
‘thing’ provides a higher level of retention over watching a video about that ‘thing’.
The world has changed quite a bit since 1964 as technology has moved forward in
leaps and bounds and this is what will be examined here.
To be clear, the book Understanding Media was not reviewed
previous to this writing, and so there may be some misunderstanding. With that
now out of the way it is time to explore the public Internet being the medium
that is carrying the messages; though a little historical context will be
included upfront.
One of the problems currently facing our culture, and this
has happened before, is that many of the strides found in these new
technologies are buried in the backend and has allowed people to communicate at
new and unprecedented levels, which has caused many people to generally be
unhappy. Some of the unhappy people have taken up as such because they don’t
like their ideas challenged, ideas that they themselves can’t defend without
resorting to ad homonym attacks. Others can be found exhibiting discontent and have
taken it upon themselves the task of gate keeping the benefits of our time.
Mark Twain is reported to have said that ‘History Doesn't
Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes’ and Mr. Twain was right on the mark. The
Gutenberg press and the candle revolutionized the world, for they allowed
people to allocate less of their hours labour to self education; Gutenberg’s
printing press was built circa 1450 and just to provide context, the Spanish
Inquisition kicked off in 1478, lasting around 55 years as the Spanish Royalty
and The Church sought to maintain control of Catholic religious messaging. The
use of censorship, cancel culture and terms like misinformation and
disinformation are currently being applied to the public Internet seemingly has
a very similar footprint to the authoritarian acts of the Spanish Inquisition;
even if the levels of physical torture have been put aside since those acts
that were carried out in Fifteenth century Spain and a few kilometers more.
Returning to the title of this article for a moment, a simple
question must be asked. If McLuhan is to be believed then with Drag Queen Story
Hour where a drag queen is the medium to the children hearing the stories then what
is the message? Sit on that as we move
forward.
Mankind is equipped with five senses: seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting, and touching. It must be noted that much like the original
five, the sixth sense, that being commonsense can also be rendered handicapped.
At the time of this writing the Internet really only stimulates the first two senses
in the original list as the ultimate listed sense, touching, is left to the
consumer of whatever content they are experiencing at the moment.
Many may see the Internet as: the book store or library, a
NEWS paper, a radio, and a television station; but in the end the Internet is
simply a metaphorical combination of delivery trucks and broadcast companies;
and here is how the trouble gets started. The Liberal party of Canada, under
the leadership of Justine Trudeau, is looking to pass Bill C-63 which will
allow the government of Canada to manage what Canadians can say and see on the
public Internet; other countries such as The USA, England, Scotland and much of
the EU are doing the same, both China and North Korea have already been onboard
with this idea for years.
If indeed the Internet is considered a medium and the
government is looking to control said medium then how is this not
metaphorically and morally equivalent to a Government telling a newspaper
distributer which papers they may or may not carry or what shows a broadcaster may
or may not air? Of course reality needs to be kept front of mind and certain
things need to be managed within the public domain because certain people need
to be protected and certain acts must not be normalized. Keeping things short
and simple protect the children and don’t allow the normalization of pedophilia;
yet within our society some have seemingly have dropped that very simple ball.
Once again, reality needs to be kept front of mind and
certain things need to be managed within the public domain because certain
people need to be protected and certain acts must not be normalized. Returning
back to the Internet and Bill C-63, the question must be put forward – what
sort of person is getting protection and what sort of actions are now seemingly
being normalized? Bill C-63 is being put forward as a means and method to
protect children from misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech by a Canadian
Governments that allow for the castration and mutilation of children; look into
Gender Affirming Care for the adolescents.
The public Internet has become the de facto source of
information, both observable and reasoned, thus allowing people to quote
content and make assertions regardless if that message is a priori or a posteriori
because the Internet never lies. People make choices based on available
information, both observed and reasoned; and so when a Government has control
over what the ‘evidence’ is, then the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth will be proscribed by that Government.
Open public discourse is the crucible where ideas become
refined and the truth may be found. Of course lies will also be injected into our
public discourse, this is a given as people will always have their personal causes
and intentions. Separating the lies from the truths in Canada must be left
to me and my fellow Canadians.
---==---
"When you tear
out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the
world that you fear what he might say."
George R. R. Martin
via his character Tyrion Lannister in GoT.
