Thanks Be To Gutenburg!

The title of this blog may seem unbefitting considering that the chapter assigned for last week had nothing to do with Gutenberg or his printing press. But, upon further reflection, is not the Internet much like the first printing press?

In the fifteenth century, the printing press was revolutionary in that it mass-produced literature so that more copies were available for the general public. Until that point, reading was reserved for the clergy or the elite; even the Bible, as popular a moral guide as it was, was difficult to come by in print. This meant that the wealthy, literate members of society were the ones who dictated what was shared with the masses, and hence, what was believed to be true. What the invention of the printing press did was allow more people to personally increase their knowledge base via literature. There was no longer such a strong censorship on what the general public could know and believe.

Similarly, the Internet now allows any individual to increase their understanding by facilitating information searches and sharing ideas on a plethora of topics. As the printing press did in its day, the Internet challenges personal, religious, or political agendas because various viewpoints are brought forth. People no longer have to blindly trust in authority but can rely on their own research to figure out what comes closest to the truth about any given situation.

This correlation between the printing press and the Internet came to me last night while I was studying European history and talking to a friend on the phone. My friend was informing me about a movie he had seen recently. The film investigates topics such as Americanized Christianity and American foreign policy and economics. Its thrust is similar to that of conspiracy theory (or the studies of Noam Chomsky), claiming that there is a hidden agenda behind the actions of the United States government. Interestingly, my friend told me that the film can only be found on-line because the producers are not interested in making money- all they want to do is spread what they believe to be truth. The producers trust that the Internet is a sure way to access people and open their ears, eyes, and minds. That's a pretty powerful idea, and, unlike the printing press, there is virtually no lag time between the publishing of these ideas with their reception by readers/viewers.

However, it is critical that people are media literate so that they can be sure that they are using credible sources of information and that they are accessing a wide variety of resources. It is not good enough for me to watch this movie on America’s conspiracy theory without researching the claims the movie makes. It is crucial that I formulate questions and do further investigations before drawing any type of concrete opinion on the topic.