The Nature of the Beast

Can corporate entities like Facebook, Google and cable news networks be trusted to inform the public with news and information? Are there some better solutions? 

The thought occurred to me earlier in the week that we are not correctly understanding the nature of our system, i.e. the coexistence of capitalism and democracy. This thought became apparent as I was posting a response on Facebook to an Ann Coulter thread — something I will get to later. But, it goes way beyond the topic of Ann Coulter or Liberal vs. Conservative and gets to the heart of the system itself. This is about capitalism and the role of a corporation. Specifically, we are hearing a lot lately about the social responsibility of companies like Facebook and Google. Many are calling on the Silicon Valley giants to do the right thing and to screen for fake news, hate speech and such. We also expect a lot from news sources like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, as we should.

But, here’s what I think people are missing. They are corporations and the sole purpose of a corporation is one thing: to make a profit. It’s the nature of the system. Do I believe that cable news is largely responsible for distorting our perception of the political system? Yes. Do I believe that Google and Facebook and other media outlets are dangerous to democracy because of their special abilities of making bad information or highly charged statements go viral? Absolutely. Do I think some of the algorithms in place at these companies are designed to reward the popular over the factual or meaningful? Yes again.

But, they are corporations. Crazy news gets viewers and the more viewers and the more “hits” something gets, the more ad revenue it generates. By all definitions of a corporation they are succeeding. Tying this into a discussion group I was a part of yesterday on the topic of psychopathy and sociopathy, these entities (Facebook, Google, Cable News, etc.) are not human. They lack empathy. If classified by the DSM, they might just meet the definition of a sociopath. That’s just the nature of capitalism.

So, my question to you is who is at fault here and how do we correct this? Is it Facebook, Google and cable news for not acting more like humans and showing more concern? Is it the government for not breaking up monopolies, or our citizenry, acting like a bunch of addicted automatons, blindly getting our news from the wrong places? 

Bringing this back to Ann Coulter, my advice in this thread was NOT to take the bait, because if you do, it’s no different than going back for another smoke. Emotions like anger, outrage and fear are only playing into the hands of a very destructive algorithm which will only serve to promote the very things we find disgusting.