Republic.com 2.0

In risk of echoing the content of my first blog post, I wanted to comment on a book review I came across on Salon.com earlier today. By no means do I wish to make my blog a pulpit for criticizing Web2.0. I've already stated my case by admitting that I love a great number of aspects of the second wave of the Internet. However, a new book by Cass Sunstein entitled Republic.com 2.0 succeeds in making a cogent argument about one of the dark sides of the collaborative web.

Sunstein's new book is a discussion over how contemporary Internet trends are somewhat stifling to the democratic process. This is a bit of a contrarian viewpoint, considering that we typically think that the unfettered access to information embraces the core tenets of democracy by producing a better informed public. The Internet has long been lauded for creating specialized niches for like-minded individuals with similar interests, which is certainly not a bad thing, but in the age of partisan politics popping up on blogs, wikis, and other web resources, a great number of people prefer to remain within their comfort zone and subscribe solely to ideologies that mirror their own. According to the author, hyperlinking patterns on political blogs are unlikely to ever link opposing viewpoints. Instead of challenging personal ideologies, we prefer to simply reinforce them. Just as television had a profound influence in the 1960 presidential election, web-based information is most certainly influencing our civic decisions today. However, if we're basing our decisions solely on the discourse pumped out by political blog, we're doing ourselves a disservice rather than exercising our civic duties.