Jul 19, 2008
If you feel like the internet gives too many people a voice, consider the alternative.
Like this post?
The opposite of the cult of the amateur is not some wonderful wisdom.
It’s the cult of the elite, which is worse.
(Paraphrase of Thabiti Anyabwile at Band of Bloggers.)
* * * * *
It is true that hearing many voices does give one a better understanding of conventional wisdom, which is often correct.
But of course, not always.
The internet proves definitively that a million monkeys with a million typewriters will not spend their million years producing the complete works of Shakespeare, but it’s a fun way to pool our ignorance. Dragons and enchantments! Long live the pyjamahidin.
hmmm…
another way to see the internet is the cult of the sychophant who worships their favorite “elite”
Actually, the opposite of amateur is not elite, but expert — and I’ll take the expert every time. For example, I’d recommend listening to John Piper rather than me most of the time.
i’m going to dissent among the commenters and agree with the post. it’s not that we have to love the pool of ignorance that is inevitably out there, but that the alternative would indeed be worse. a few ignorant people with a lot of power can do just as much damage as, and even more than, a lot of ignorant people with a little power. and we are all imperfect and ignorant in some ways and at some time. someday we’ll know fully and all the chaos and lies will be sorted through, but that’s not today.
You have a podcast, Kjos? I dunno — I’d try it before I said I liked Dr. Piper better.
I think it depends. Typically, the elite are not experts, they just have more money. However, the internet does crowd out experts and value their opinions less then we once did. And its harder to figure out who is an expert now that we have to look at millions of voices as opposed to figuring out an expert in a crowd of smaller elites.
Still, no matter what, discovering the good, true, and beautiful requires discernment, as it always has.
Thanks, Frank, but you really should trust me on this one.
The beauty of the blogosphere is that everyone is free to blog, just as everyone is free to ignore blogs. I prefer determining for myself who is worth listening to.