Information isn’t necessarily knowledge. And knowledge isn’t necessarily wisdom…
When the worldwide web became available on college campuses, we generally agreed we would need to help students navigate the sea of information available, just as our professors had helped us learn how to search the library and evaluate books and periodicals. I remember growing up in the era of early television. My generation was among the first targets of mass-marketing, and TV promoted everything: Toys and games to make our young lives fun. Milk, cereals, juices and the whole “food pyramid” to keep us healthy. Candy, cookies, and snacks to share with our friends. Shoes, clothing, and other wearables, so we would be “in-style.” And let’s not forget ads for upcoming television shows that would then air more ads. From the days of early print to today, the communication business has been driven by ad revenue. Even though we had been exposed to commercial TV, most of us were not prepared to help our students deal with the onrushing tsunami of bogus claims and dubious ideas.
Boomers were told they needed to buy Mr. Potato Heads, Hula Hoops, Etch-A-Sketches, View Masters, Barbie Dolls, G.I. Joes, Superballs, Silly Putty, Play-Doh, Legos, Lite-Brite sets, and Hot Wheels cars. I remember it was P.F. Flyers shoes – with the slogan, “run faster – jump higher” – that first broke the spell of modern advertising for me. I tested them. I could run no faster and jump no higher in P.F. Flyers than in any other sneakers. The ads were hype – puffery, some would say. Nevertheless, without good little consumers buying the hype, a big chunk of the economy would go the way of a popsicle on a hot summer day.
P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” News flash. The masses were considered suckers long before Barnum. Itinerant “snake oil” salesmen made their living selling things people didn’t need. Print ads offered all kinds of things that had a high profit margin and low utility. And US citizens persist in buying billions of dollars of holiday decorations, costumes, and fireworks for our Independence Day – from China. I don’t want to get started on radio and TV ads – these brought us Coke with real cocaine, and cigarettes with less tar, but more cancer and heart disease.
From the 1990’s to today, the number of suckers has increased dramatically. It seems to me that we have failed to help many people navigate the web and keep their lives in perspective. As much as we now see various campaigns against on-line bullying or promoting awareness of scams and fraud – including fake profiles, photos, videos, news stories, and product reviews – the damage is ongoing. Some people feel their lives have no meaning, they are being ignored or ostracized, everyone else is doing better than they are, their existence is futile, and the only way to be noticed is to do something outrageous or horrific, like shooting school children.
On the web, we can buy anything we can imagine and many things we shouldn’t even contemplate. Anything that can be bought is for sale and even if we can’t buy it, we can be convinced it’s valuable. There isn’t a vice that hasn’t been portrayed as a virtue. And there isn’t a virtue that hasn’t been attacked because someone who displays it did something wrong at some time in the past. Some of us are worried that our children will be indoctrinated into CRT or the LGBTQ agenda. Meanwhile the internet offers ways to satisfy our every desire and provides pleasures both egotistical and sensual. We can even trade in things that are not tangible – digital items useful only in a virtual reality and coins of the digital realm.
The internet provides an unprecedented amount of useful information, but it also exploits human weaknesses. Advertisers know we might envy what others have or be greedy for more. We might act based on our overblown pride or worse, malice. And we can easily be lulled into sloth, gluttony, or lust. We search for products that make us look good, or at least better than others, rather than the products that might serve us best. We waste hours scrolling through our “feed” rather than accomplishing important work. We can be provoked to outrage before we know all the facts. We can fail to recognize that influencers, like porn stars, are just putting on a show. The supposed “marketplace of ideas” can turn out to be an overgrown marketplace of vanities.
In The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan wrote of a town called, “Vanity,” which held a “Vanity Fair” all year long. There, all kinds of things were sold – “houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts; as harlots, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not. And moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind. Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false-swearers, and that of a blood-red color.”
Bunyan’s 1678 litany mirrors today’s internet and its 24/7 enticements. It’s almost as if he was able foresee Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, online porn, alternative facts, and the dark web. It seems to me Vanity Fair hasn’t changed much over the years. While we have websites instead of alleys, booths, and carts, we still need to help people deal with the same temptations.
MurrayWorks 