Asymmetrical Information

From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:

Narrowing Horizons with the Internet, part 2

A while back I posted a retort to Cass Sunstein's contention that using the internet somehow narrows our exposure to diverse opinions. A reader recently moved to Louisiana, Janis Gore, commented:

Dear Mr. Hofer: Here in the vast red rural wasteland of this country, people like me, who live in communities of less than 40,000, can't pop down to the local newstand and buy a variety of national newspapers and "important" magazines.

The Internet has been a tremendous boon to me for the consumption of products and news. I am a recent comer to my little town of Vidalia, LA, pop. 5,000, after stints in Dallas, Portland and New York City. I can't begin to imagine how the horizons of children in this area have expanded since the advent of the Internet.

Sunstein is a snob. I have to go to the Internet to escape filtration of news. Jeez, what a limited-use kind of soul.

This is a point I neglected to make earlier. Like Sunstein, I'm too used to having international newstands all around me, and neglected to think about those that don't. Disadvantage, MTZ.

Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at December 31, 2001 01:12 PM | Technorati inbound links