I am changing my thoughts on public discussion again.
I used to think that the weight of thoughtful popular opinion would always exceed that of ignorance and trollish noise. Well, maybe not always but in the preponderance of cases. Now I am starting to think that the 'basics' of discussion - things like agreeing on sources, methods of discussion, mutual respect etc. - can erode invisibly underneath the media that dominate.
That is to say, if you have cable news as your medium, then "the" public will fall behind the norms of that medium in deciding how the discussion will go. So the cable network, and guests will form their own behaviour norms and that will be "the" debate.
In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s as this happened (and earlier) our abilities to engage with information eroded. We lost the ability to engage deeply with facts, we lost trust (better - CONTINUED to lose trust) in political leaders who were not on "our side", we saw politics as rounds of boing in between commercials, etc.
So when the dominant medium changed in 2010s to "social medium", it relied on a lot of the aspects of "public" engagement that were baked into to the process from the beginning. These were now gone, eroded.
So I am now thinking that this erosion was worse than any of the members of "the" public realized. By "the" public, I refer to conservatives and liberals who are in touch with issues as discussed by mainstream politicians, who follow mainstream media as I define as anything from FOX News to the most centrist and balanced sources.
The change in my thinking comes from the creeping ability for mainstream politicians to "get away" (sorry, lack of a better word) with standing behind people like Judge More, with outrageous statements and so on. Admittedly, I am talking about America here.
Nonetheless, I am going to start getting more reactionary about pushing people out of the conversation if they don't listen, don't use real sources, and don't discuss in good faith.
https://www.docdroid.net/YfzmpFP/what-is-homosexuality-a-scientific-fact-or-a-perversion-events-political-discussion-forums.pdf#page=5