Two thousand years of progress and the pinnacle of mankind’s achievement online is a website with photos of Paris Hilton looking like she was beaten by a former boyfriend. I am not an intellectual by any stretch of the imagination, but what is stunning to me is the amount of garbage there is floating around on the Internet.
On any given day you are bombarded with ads for penis enlargement, hit with spyware, and receive messages from some person in Africa claiming to be a prince that wants to share his fortune with you. I recently saw an advertisement from a company telling me to click on the banner to remove advertisements on my computer. My response and yours should always the same to this bombardment of substandard waste. Run Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware when finished surfing the net, try your best to shield your eyes from the ads, tell the guy from Liberia his check is in the mail, and if necessary ask the good people at the “Rhino Penis Company” how much they want.
The sites I go to, when I am done with that cavalcade of gallstone-inducing madness that is my email account, are the news sites. I get my news, maybe a few cheap laughs, and then I sign off. Not as exciting as, say, putting a stick of dynamite down my throat and trying to put out the fuse before it blows, but this kills time between classes and keeps me sharp. I never know when someone is going to regurgitate what he or she saw on the news and misinterpret it to make a point in class. You should never believe everything you read, and you should not form an opinion on something without all the facts. Just because The New York Post makes things up does not mean you should either.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - deano
While I understand your disillusionment with some aspects of the Internet, you need to try not to throw out the squalling infant with the soapy, scum-filed pool of tepid water within which it just bathed...
I am currently using the Internet as a extremely helpful research tool for a personal project and the scope, reach and immediacy that it provides is, quite frankly, mind-boggling.
20 years ago when I was at university, to research some obscure factoid or information piece, I would have typically had to dig through, if lucky, a volumious text database (by classified subjects, author names or title - no easy Googling). If unlucky, I would be thumbing through a card index to locate my materials. Bad luck if someone else had the damn stuff out or if it was misfiled, or worse, if it wasn't in that particualr library system at all.
The Internet has taken an enormous amount of information and liberated it. The world is now within arm's reach. I can drill down on the Internet and find, within seconds, the complete works of William Shakespeare, copies of his folios, a diagram of the Globe Theatre, analysis of pre-reformation English theatre and the complete text of obscure works like the medieval play The Castle of Perseverance. I can note it for further use, print it, or just read it online --net cost to me - my monthly Internet fees.
So yes, the Internet is full of girl-on-girl porn, v*agra ads, scams, charletans, dangerous viruses, Nigerian con-men, obtuse bloggers, windy political analysis, mouthy teens, commerce, charity, bigamy...the list is endless.
The tool is what you make it, and how you use it. At times it may just seem to be yet another vacuous, rhetoric-filled, hateful spew tube...but at others it is a channel to history, knowledge, culture, enlightenment and unleashed creativity.
You get what you put out of it, and put into it. Go back and take another look. Or just pull the plug and ignore what may possibly be the greatest knowledge tool since the invention of the pen. The choice is entirely yours.
2 - Lisa McKay
Good advice about Ad-Aware, Brandon, and deano makes some very valid points as well. I find myself increasingly able to put blinders on while I'm online - I am sometimes amazed at how invisible the ads and annoyances become (well, except for the voluminous amounts of email spam), much the same way that I manage to tune out the commercials when I'm watching TV.
3 - Catana
Why is this small-minded rant classified as humor or satire? It isn't clever or funny and it has nothing new or perceptive to say. In fact, it's nothing but a collection of wild generalizations. Strange that so many people can manage to use the internet without accessing badly designed sites, porn or celebrity trivia, but if anyone listened to you, they'll believe there was nothing out there but garbage. On the other hand, someone once said that 95% of everything is garbage, and Thoreau said that the majority of news is gossip, so the net isn't exactly unique. Ever taken a really good look at a well stocked magazine rack?
4 - Elvira Black
Brandon:
You said:
"I never know when someone is going to regurgitate what he or she saw on the news and misinterpret it to make a point in class. You should never believe everything you read, and you should not form an opinion on something without all the facts."
That could probably apply to reading online news sites too, could it not? There are definitely a plethora or news sources now, both Old and New media style. In some sense, that might make it even more difficult to discern the wheat from the chaff, but I think I prefer feast to famine. But I do get what you're driving at--great post!
Deano:
Remember the dreaded microfilm/microfiche rooms? Like you, I thank the Higher Power every day for this incredible research tool. Darn kids today--don't appreciate nothing (lol).
5 - Deano
Ahh yes, the dreaded microfiche/microfilm quest.
Endless leafing through a densly packed file drawer of microfiche to find the specific one you need...followed by the horrific search to find a working machine that would allow you to view it, and then taking forever to carefully thread the microfilm into this intricate projector only to find out that you had nabbed a). either the wrong microfilm or b). had a projector that didn't properly focus...
I do not miss this at all.
6 - Shark
Internet: Disinformation at the speed of light.
7 - Baronius
Deano & Elvira - Then you realize that you chose the microfiche machine that doesn't print. Oh, and don't forget the fiche that are missing, burned, or glued together with coffee. And the stack that someone "sorted".
8 - archie
The fact that you were able to publish this on blogcritics {and not on fox news} tells us something..doesnt it?
The Blogosphere is not about 'news-o-accuracy', if you will, but more about being a new medium for the freedom of speech that people enjoyed ever since the days of radio.
Its about local buzz - be it hilton or hamptonshire's new year celebrations, blogs bring into attention all those things that the news thought was just too inane to grab 'headlines' ! Sure there will be crap that gets mixed along, but users are getting equally smart about separating it from serious content, I believe.
So, someone asking me to stay away from blogosphere is like the amish telling me not to use my car...they have their reasons ofcourse!
9 - gonzo marx
ok, time fer me ta chime in...
for all it's warts and flaws, for all the negatives you can hurl at it
the Net is the greatest thing to happen to Mankind since Gutenburg and his printing press
why? you may ask...
fair enough...
it is the great Leveller...a boon for Democratic sharing of Thought and Information, and one that can eventually reach almost everyone and make their access to Knowledge equal only to how much they are willing to Learn
before Gutenberg, only the rich could have Books, and read them
now..with the Net, more and more folks, each and every day, can reach out and Learn anything and everything they want
Information is impartial, some is good, some is bad...and no one will hold your hand and walk you down the safe Garden Path
the "fruit" of Knowledge is out here for All, take big bites
moderation is for monks
nuff said?
Excelsior!
10 - Steve S
I've had my email address for almost 10 years and I get probably 1 spam every couple of months. Either your email address is too easy to 'guess' or you've left your email address on too many websites for spambots to find.
As far as advertisements go, they keep a lot of websites alive, but like the junk mail that comes in the mailbox, you learn how to deal with it I guess.
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with a blog being like a diary and being nothing more than a person's views on something. I actually think that's what makes blogs great. Why would I dismiss a 'teenager's' viewpoint on Bush as trivial? It's part of the voice of America, I don't want to turn to O'Reilly to tell me what America thinks, do I? Let me turn to America to see.
11 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Brandon,
I'll only point out that research, by its nature, is the process of digging through coal to find the diamond. For all of its faults (disinformation at the speed of light - an accurate appraisal), the internet speeds that process immensely, and gets you up against the walls of denial in mere days that it would have taken you years to reach previously. The world wide web is only a reflection of the culture you live in. You looked in the culture's mirror and the reflection didn't please you. It doesn't please me either.
But at least you have a voice and you can use it - so far.
12 - Matt
"Internet: Disinformation at the speed of light."
Is that true? I think your lying.
13 - Nick
If you hate it so much, why do you take the time to post this long rant? I believe just boycotting would show your true dislike of it, rather than spending a few minutes (perhaps hours) thinking of something intelligent to say about something you dislike.
14 - Michael Rosetti
I loved bbs and modems and dos and all the wonderful things.Then the internet was born.I was a little suspious but soon waned over to it.I found it delightful and I much like others found it a tremendous resource of information and software was abundant at no price everywhere so was information.Now it cost you for anything and everything .I am the first to back free enterprize but geez..come on this has gone to far.It saddens me that big brother has taken hold on the net.The security of people and places and things I understand but im like a guy I read about someone hacking him to get important things.I hope if they hack me they will see im too poor to have anything important and would they please upgrade my software while here lol..I remember when the internet was fun and exciting and people was shy about getting online from all the bad press now the bad press has been justified and understated.I miss bbs's and the modem and just friendly conversation and free downloads and so on.Im discusted with even yahoo messenger that holds key loggers and reports your key strokes and information back to someone somewhere.I am ready to just unplug and pray that someone somewhere comes up with a better idea. Im really just sick ..Im now living out in a very rural place with the internet as my only form of communication and entertainment..I know that is pretty lame but for 20 plus years computers were fun and exciting now they are scarry and worrisome and frankly I don't trust them .But after all they are machines,its just the people on them that make them that way .Anyway I couldn't resist speaking my mind .This too is how I have been feeling lately ..I hate the internet .Michael
15 - Me
blah blah blah...Thoreau said this blah blah blah...shut up and get your own mind and opinion fucking tool
16 - Me
AHHHH you are all doing it, you're playing the game. I can do it too. Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Nietzsche. HAH!!!! I can play the same game all you wannabe psuedo intellectuals want. STOP IT!!!!! blah blah blah!!! This is why the man said he hates the internet to begin with. God, and I hate you all too. fucking posers.
17 - That internet ass hole
Well if your name is mr pink then you might need penis enlargements. But this is a blog, therefore o r hypocritical. oh and there are way more websites out there than just NeWs. like information sites, forums, p2p's, your basic random sites, porn, other porn. look up something and quit complaining, o and get off the internet
18 - Will
The porn and ad sites do not bother me, because I can just avoid it. What bothers me is trying to look up information and trying to figure out which information is fact and which ones are garbage, but at the same time you can read a newspaper or a book and get the same affect. The cool thing is there are people out there who actually wrote good factual information on a subject and it is right there at your fingertips. You just have to figure it out.
19 - concerned citizen
Your essay is very well put.
I think too many in society have mistaken the internet for better sources like the library, documentaries, the press.
When I was in graduate school, our dean did not allow us to use the internet as a resource and we had to learn and discover from experts, not ranting teenagers posing to be experts.
20 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
@19 - I guess when you let advertising lead you around the internet & mindlessly clink on blind links, sure, the internet seems like the pit of stupidity. BUT, if you actually sit down & learn how to use search engines correctly, disregard the shallow entertainment value & actually have a legitimate search or project[comment #1], then it's a brilliant resource!
A Graduate School that wouldn't let you use technology with your own adult mind as the filter for such garbage?? Graduate to what... The Flinstones Era?!
21 - Jordan Richardson
The problem with the internet is that you can find anything on it. The great thing about the internet is that you can find anything on it.
22 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
So, if you can find anything on the internet then what's the problem??
23 - Jordan Richardson
I was speaking generally, not personally.
Obviously the ability to find anything on the internet is problematic for some people. If it wasn't, we wouldn't be having this discussion and this article wouldn't have been written over two years ago.
24 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
It sounds to me that this particular person has a problem with the internet for its content that lacks in quality. If this person could actually find anything then he wouldn't be complaining! That's not a problem for me...
He even admits that he is not intellectual,so, he is probably led around the internet instead of using it as a tool!
In other words... A dumbass who thinks the internet is all about pop media!
25 - ranter number two
i just really fucking hate it