Power of social media
Looking back at 1844, Samuel Morse tapped a four-word telegraph over a 40-mile line stretched between Baltimore and Washington. Then 32 years afterward, Alexander Graham Bell summoned Mr. Watson by telephone. Almost 100 years later, when a Motorola engineer placed the first wireless cellphone call, the race was on. Now, with the iPhone we have these wondrous hand-held marvels of technology connected to Internet and social media.
Political strategists quickly recognized the game-changing power social media put at their fingertips. First, instill distrust in, and reject all sources of traditional news by repeating over and over again, “It’s all fake news!” Check. Next, provide a continuous form of substitute news through social media. Check. Pandora’s box was opened wide.
A large bloc of voters was soon willfully herded into a box canyon of poisonous social media posts, which they still turn to as their primary source of “news.” With a few screen taps, these bamboozled and blissfully ignorant sheep can be spoonfed and subliminally immersed in endless pools of disinformation and propaganda. Where else can an incorrigible serial liar have his very own social media site and (hilariously) call it Truth Social?
Adding to this plight, Russian and Chinese trolls, domestic saboteurs and influencers cast seeds of dissension and disunity to this captive audience. Plus, there is volatile 24/7 high-tech foreign interference at multiple levels of government and business. National cybersecurity has become this tense tug-of-war of breaches and upgrades.
Grappling on a daily basis with a defeated, revenge-filled Putin brown-noser, combined with foreign threats and wars, is burden enough, but the impact of AI on humanity looms large, adding another layer of concern.
A perilous situation indeed, with ruthless dictators, a wannabe autocrat, and unregulated technology all posing serious threats to mankind. While pondering this current dire time in our world, I found myself muttering a version of Morse’s four-word telegraph: “What hath God wrought?”
ROGER MARSH Little Rock