15 March 2008
Aftermath

Filed under Web

Something ironic happened on the way home last night.

I came home late last night after spending an evening with a friend having dinner and, as always, checked my e-mail (one habit I’ll never break.):

“i find reddit to pose a quandary for myself also.

i dont have time or patience to dig around
individually strenuously enough to at least be
marginally aware of whats happening. to my perception
the country i call home is experiencing a horrible
meltdown and i dont trust the MSM. without reddit,
yeah okay i would be Less Angsty but i would also be
in Denial. a sheeple, much as i hate the expression.

how the hell are you going to inform yourself given
the current sociopolitical climate, absent some kind
of social news? who the hell do u trust?

sorry to sound angsty.”

Somebody responded to my article. Somebody I didn’t know. Somebody that wasn’t my mom. It’s a rare occurrence, so I responded to the e-mail with:

Ah yes, the “once you’ve seen our problems, you can’t unsee them” issue. I don’t implicitly trust the mainstream media, though I do find some sources more trustworthy than others, namely NPR and the New York Times: both currently appear unwilling to sacrifice the credibility they’ve earned for extra dollars in the bank. You have to remember that all news reporting, by its nature, is biased: unless it happens in your backyard (literally), by the time it gets to you, it’s gone through at least one reporter’s hands.

During the Revolutionary War, General Washington had several spies stationed in New York and at various strategic points in Long Island. Unlike his British counterparts, which favored using the material gleaned by the spies deemed most “trustworthy”, Washington laboriously cross-referenced the reports from ALL his spies, no matter his personal thoughts on them. It’s a subtle difference, but in a couple of cases, it was enough for Washington to have enough information to eke out a victory during battle.

To borrow a page from Washington, find as many divergent sources as you can: Reuters, NPR, BBC, the NRO, the Atlantic Monthly, Mother Jones, Reason Magazine, the opinion pages of the big dailies (NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe and LA Times). Each of these is a reputable news or current affairs magazine, some centrist in presentation, others on the ends of the spectrum. Contrary to popular reddit belief, you can type dailykos into Google and skip the reddit self-fawning. You can also try some conservative/libertarian blogs. Invest in a free RSS reader: paying a little now in setup time reaps dividends quickly. Everything that’s not a cited fact or a quote can get tossed out: it’s garbage. Keep the facts and quotes and check them against each other.

Remember that the printed word is the most concentrated and effective form of communication man currently has in his arsenal. The printed word, unlike the digital or the spoken, stands for all time, and is checked and rechecked by well-established hierarchies, all of which have their bacon on the line. A printed word is worth twice as much as its online or television counterpart. Trade having it “now” in favor of having it correct tomorrow.

I make it a point to spend the 30-45 minutes I used each day on reddit reading something elsewhere: maybe it’s a piece of nonfiction in book form, maybe it’s a newspaper, maybe it’s my blogroll.

But I’m not out to destroy reddit or social news: if you think it’s the best out there and you can’t do better yourself, or don’t have time to, don’t give up on it. Reddit is obviously better than nothing. Just remember the points I made in the original post: all cops aren’t bad, all corporations aren’t evil, and being trusting and courteous without being naive can go a long, long way. Speak out in the community, punish the “vote up”ers (your blue down arrow is a powerful beast), and keep an open mind.

Good luck out there.

It’s incredibly lucky that I checked my e-mail and responded before I checked my website statistics.

I’ll be honest: my first thought was that StatCounter had seriously fucked up. I also thought that somebody had used my site to test their RSS feed reader and was hammering on it.
Then the sweet, delicious irony hit me. All I can say is that: I didn’t post it. I posted under JoeCollege. I have no blood karma from this. (Feel free to post this to reddit if you must.)

After spending two hours last night e-mailing my web host, being wholly unprepared for having more people visit my site in a given second than I’m used to as a daily total, I’m a bit overwhelmed.

But while I’ve no doubt there are dozens of comments on reddit.com about this article, with a wide range of thoughts and styles, I can say that I am in awe of those of you that took the time to respond to the post either in the comments or via e-mail. Many of you were motivational, most of you were well-written, even in disagreement, and all of you were insightful. Truth be told, I still get goosebumps when I read: “You inspire me.” “I want to quit too.” “How well-put. This is exactly what I was feeling.”

I didn’t set out to inspire people, of course. I’m an engineer who wears a silly hat. I wrote to my personal blog about my frustrations with the lacuna between reddit and reality, and my experiences with it. Your mileage may very vary. You may favor Ron Paul and LOLcats. I don’t blame you: they’re interesting and fascinating, and I’m glad they have a part in the human condition. But I confess, in hope and inspiration taken, hope and inspiration is given. The comments and e-mails have made me more resolute in my decision to leave.

I’m not setting out to convert the world: stay with reddit if you think it’s the best you can do in the time you’ve got. Don’t sacrifice some information with noise to get none of either. Work on your filter, use the down arrow with passion.

But maybe you, like me, think you can do better than reddit. Maybe you can disconnect from the Web and engage friends, family, and coworkers. Maybe you live in a large city with seminars, book discussions and coffee talks. Maybe you live in a small town and the Internet is the escape from unpersonable, uncultured, uneducated neighbors. But read, think, and speak for yourself and never blindly accept what is presented to you. The single greatest thing I learned from reddit was to question everything and when the community discussions were at their best were when we were doing just that. Utill that reddit returns, I won’t.

That said, someone please e-mail me if we attack Iran.

 ::  Adam College