January 11, 2009
Now that Internet access is so widely available and blogging is so easy and commonplace, we see a lot more evidence in support of the old adage, “EVERYONE’S AN EXPERT.” How often do you see advice and opinions presented online in a seemingly definitive way, laying it all out for you about one thing or another as if Blogger So-and-So is the omniscient Voice of Authority? Bloggers might even add little caveats to qualify their statements as opinions, like “This is just based on my experience. Your mileage may vary.” But they still present their information in a way that lends it weight. My favorite is the numbered list, as in “The Top Ten Ways to Do Such-and-Such,” or “The Top Fifteen Myths About Whatever.” Even with caveats in the fine print, these lists come across with the force of facts, especially if the person presenting them has some sort of credentials (or faux credentials) that support his or her conclusions. And the real fact is, we can shoot on over to someone else’s blog, someone who might even have credentials of equal or greater value, and we can find opinions and advice that contradict the opinions and advice of the first expert!
So we’re faced with a unique historical problem. I’ll present it as a numbered list, as so many bloggers do.
1. Opinions, as they say, are like @$$holes; everybody has one.
2. Thanks to the Internet, everybody with an opinion (okay, everybody with an opinion and the resources to maintain an online presence) can broadcast that opinion far and wide.
3. Thanks to useful blogging and web development tools, everybody who’s online and has an opinion (including me!) can present that opinion in an aesthetically pleasing and seemingly authoritative fashion.
4. The average Internet user can potentially be exposed to more opinions from more people, presented attractively and authoritatively, in a shorter span of time than at any time in human history.
5. We have no way of knowing which advice, opinions, and information are just part of the stream of rampant misinformation and which ones are of value.
6. This opens us all up in new ways to being played. From the highly impressionable to the mildly receptive, we can all be manipulated more effectively than ever.
7. So we are perhaps more reliant than ever before on our own personal intuition, gut instincts, and common sense.
I know, I know. Alarmists hit the RED ALERT button because we were being manipulated by TV advertising, too. And subliminal ads in movies. And so-called propaganda and indecency in books. (Sidebar: Imagine This: Oscar Wilde as a blogger!) But still, I think there is some genuine danger here, and we need to be careful. I point you to a single adage in support of this advice: “99 Percent of Everything is Crap.”
Yes, including this blog. Do take it with a grain of salt. Keeping in mind, of course, that I’m an expert in everything. And so is everyone else.
See you tomorrow.
