Digital Disconnect - Book Report/Review Example

 “Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy” “Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy” by Robert W. McChesney is first of all full ofcriticism and judgmentregarding the recent situation in America and its obvious yet concealed serious problems. This situation is most simply a confrontation between truly humane social interests of wide public on one side and capitalism in its worst form represented by the richest on the other. Author’s research is deep and accurate. Mr. McChesney provides wide professional knowledge of media schemes, modern and historical media environment as well as economical learning and experience. The most interesting in the book is the connection between the present American economic situation and the evolution of theInternet as a world’s most massive and impressive discovery of the last decades.Robert McChesney strictly structures his work in parts with each of them representing different aspects of the problem. Problem itself is a recent inability of the Internet to fulfill promised in the past achievements by this in fact beautiful technology which in author’s thought can be used for the social benefit and for the better of any individual yet, unfortunately, is taken as a main tool to restrain and hold in a leash its average consumer. Mr. McChesney starts his research by informing reader that there are two main camps of the people interested in the Internet problems and its influence on the society. These camps are the “skeptics” and the “celebrants” from which first ones seem as critics and other ones as the admirers of Internet and its effect on the life. From the author`s point of view both of them have a lack of economical approach towards the issue. That is one of the reasons why this problem doesn’t seem to develop any solution because while one side doesn’t even see the problem the other one interprets it in a wrong way. The key to the searching in the right direction can be provided by the real political economic approach to the essence of the problem. Stating this author then gives reader his view on the issue. In general modern economic situation in capitalized and commercialized America can be described as awful due to the numerous reasons. Among them are high rates of unemployment, decrease of the production growth, corruption in the political, judgment and educational systems. This corruption is mostly provided by the successful defense of the interests of the richest while the majority of people live due to the old American concept of admiring those who are above them in order to be honorable too if the fortune will sometime choose them which of course is unlikable because the general level of life seems to decrease. Such concept of conformity and capitalism as the tool against the society stays on the way of productive, creative and full progress. Author criticizes not the capitalism itself but the existing capitalism in a way it “works” in America. Showing deep knowledge of modern and of the last century variations of the economical traditions starting from Adam Smith and Carl Marx Robert McChesney states that the world we live in is wrong in its basics because the fundament of our society is built upon the cruel and unequal capitalism. The reason that richest try to defend their interests by staying in the way of other people’s desire to create, work, earn and become prosperous limits and disgraces main principles of the free market. In other words those who are at power use their power not to improve the level of life but to stay in others way. Most simply it can be couched that the capital is inactive, passive and static while the majority of people blindly take everything as it is for granted because they believe that present status-quo is the best one. Despite the fact that America is still a leading country with historically most productive economic system it doesn’t mean that it must be left this way (author ironically says that it is like be the best hockey player in SriLanka). “It is implicitly understood that if a disproportionate percentage of lower-income people do not get involved in politics, the wealthy benefit.” So where is Internet in all this? Right in the middle of it. Internet at first was planned to be public but now due to the total and uncompromising commercializing it is used just like the capital to restrain democracy and true freedom of people. Instead of using the best what Internet can provide this technological miracle and treasure became just another one tool to control society. Internet provides a lot of possibilities yet its most major representatives like Facebook, Google, Yahoo and others gained total control and used as a chaotic and unstoppable advertising source while making people addictive to the social networks: “The best minds of my generation,” an early Facebook employee told The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal, “are thinking about how to make people click ads.” “If the Internet actually has improved the world over the past twenty years as much as its champions once predicted, I dread to think where the world would be if it had never existed.” In this book obvious disadvantages of using Internet as a bottomless pit of information is not even seriously paid attention to because it is obvious while the main problem is still concealed by everyone. Author also pays a huge and maybe even not so necessary (as for some critics) role to the journalism in the connection to the internet saying that just like delicate, subtle and unnoticeable national and government propaganda used media for its selfish aims in the past so is theInternet used for the surveillance, commercializing, making people buy more, do unproductive monotonous work and stay in an illusionary condition of satisfaction. Those who keep main wealth in their greedy hands do everything in order to maintain their position while government and people are only their puppets and majority of people don’t have real influence on the politics of their country: “The poor and even middle class have virtually no influence over their elected representatives. Not so for the wealthy.” “It is difficult to reconcile such extreme inequality with anything but a superficial democracy.” Author alongside with his own thoughts beautifully quotes great sayings about the capitalism itself as well as parts from which it consists. For example about the America: “Hayes wrote, “This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government by the corporations, of the corporations, and for the corporations.” Though it is way easier to criticize than try to give solution Mr.McChesney, nevertheless, gives some advices on how the situation can and must be changed for the better of people and their truly humane interests. In general he sees that nothing done more harm to the Internet than commercialization and advertising because it helped to made it work against people instead of alongside with them. He sees solution in creating of a non-profit public organizations which will control the Internet, Media and politics really and not only in words. Of course such effort seems incredible because it needs a whole lot of people to do something just for the better of humanity and not for themselves which is not among most people’s major interests. Nevertheless author himself is a founder of America’s one of the biggest non-profit scholar’s and activist’s organization “Free Press” which fights for the freedom of the Internet. “A system that promotes poverty, inequality, waste, and destruction—to the point of making the planet uninhabitable—deserves no free pass from democratic interrogation in the present, whatever its past achievements.” “The crisis of our times is that capitalism undermines democracy. The choice we face is whether to expand democracy or let it continue to shrivel: Expanding it requires confronting really existing capitalism head-on. It is the defining issue of our times, the basis for the critical juncture in which we live.” Read More