Elitism is, at its most basic level, a sense of superiority or confidence over others. It would be appropriate to define intellectual elites as those who have undergone significant academic training and rigorous studies, writing theses that an undergraduate Literature major such as myself would squirm at. Bravo for these people - discoveries and academic pursuits help make the world go round.
The problem is when academic elite transitions into academic elitism. As a very Web-oriented college student, I was particularly offended by needlessly inflammatory statements by intellectuals such as Doris Lessing, who boldly claim that the Internet is fragmenting our culture and making facts less certain. Let's make a brief analysis of Lessing's offending paragraph:
"We live in a fragmenting culture" Computers cause us to lack culture? Or does culture directly corroborate with facts? Lessing's primary concern seems to be the idea of alternative theories to facts; unfortunately, Lessing fails to acknowledge that alternative theories have been around since the dawn of history. Galileo's work was considered an alternative theory to the Catholic Church's dominant stance that the sun revolved around the Earth. All the Internet has done is make it easier for alternative theories and facts to be found. Aside from attracting more followers, it does not necessarily validate their merit.
So it's likely that people who have had years of education have "not read anything"? I wasn't aware that words on a computer screen were somehow inferior to the words in a book. If you want to go down that road, is a digital copy of Shakespeare somehow inferior to the Barnes and Noble classics edition? The lines Lessing draws are indistinguishable, which is especially ironic considering the articles we read for class were published on the Internet. I read texts for three of my other courses on the Internet, as well. Does Lessing mean to suggest that college professors around the country are not using the correct "format" for teaching?
Socialnomics? Pfft! That's old news.
14 years ago
I like your post and I think it's fair to comment on Doris Lessing, since she's been really rude ...
ReplyDeleteI think that thanks Internet, people have more culture : about what happened in the world, general awareness, better access to information ...
But as a product of this new generation, I can admit as well that since I have a computer, I read less books (and I don't read any with my computers), I make more mistakes when writing (because with text messages and msn when younger, I did not care), I listen less during some classes (because I have my laptop)
I also met a lot of "Internet followers" who trust everything people say on their blogs because they are "fake specialist of sth" and have now critical acumen.
Cannot we admit as well that even if it they have more positive effects, computers and technologies cause some damages ?
About what you said on culture...Lessing is right. Culture IS being fragmented thanks to the internet. Because of the internet the phenomenon of globalization is taking it's toll and cultures are getting all jumbled up and modified. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Things aren't what they used to be, but they never are what they used to be anyways, so why fight the change? Why not just help the change and guide it down a positive path? The internet had great things like the Gutenberg project. Try and promote that Mrs. Lessing and educate the so called idiots. The lecture won't go anywhere otherwise.
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