Monday's Deep Thought
So, over on Making Light, much to-do is being made about the DC Park Police hassling people. For the record, the cops certainly appear to be out of line. John Scalzi links to a guy who advises never give your car keys to a monkey. It's a reflection on various conspiracy theorists, 9/11 "Truthers" and other wack-jobs.
What do these two things have in common? At first glance, nothing. They are not unique or noteworthy. The case with the DC Park Police is not the first nor will it be the last time that some cop having a bad day or with too much time on his hands abuses his authority. Nor are the conspiracy theorists particularly unique. People have been seeing grand conspiracies in public life for hundreds of years.
But thanks to the magic of the Internet, thousands of people, five or six of whom read my blog, are aware of these incidents. Also thanks to the magic of the Internet, I can easily point you to these articles. And that's what the two events have in common. Prior to the Internet, one would find out about the Park Police incident by being personally acquainted with the arrested. One might get accosted in a bar by a conspiracy nut, but in general finding them was hard.
This is neither a good nor a bad phenomenon. If the story of the Park Police incident is correct, it's good, in that the first step to fixing a problem is identifying it. It's bad in that conspiracy theorists can find each other and reinforce themselves.
Welcome to the future. We've got shiny new tools, but sometimes all they do is dig up old dirt.
What do these two things have in common? At first glance, nothing. They are not unique or noteworthy. The case with the DC Park Police is not the first nor will it be the last time that some cop having a bad day or with too much time on his hands abuses his authority. Nor are the conspiracy theorists particularly unique. People have been seeing grand conspiracies in public life for hundreds of years.
But thanks to the magic of the Internet, thousands of people, five or six of whom read my blog, are aware of these incidents. Also thanks to the magic of the Internet, I can easily point you to these articles. And that's what the two events have in common. Prior to the Internet, one would find out about the Park Police incident by being personally acquainted with the arrested. One might get accosted in a bar by a conspiracy nut, but in general finding them was hard.
This is neither a good nor a bad phenomenon. If the story of the Park Police incident is correct, it's good, in that the first step to fixing a problem is identifying it. It's bad in that conspiracy theorists can find each other and reinforce themselves.
Welcome to the future. We've got shiny new tools, but sometimes all they do is dig up old dirt.