I nevertheless noticed a mistake. This was Blackwell’s assertion that the “technology” used in mass politics is “neutral.”
...
Our “ideas with consequences” — such as civic freedom and autonomy, voluntarism, subsidiarity, personal responsibility, “traditional values,” and ultimately the Love of God — cannot be readily communicated to a mass audience through mass media, because a mass is not a man.
As is often the case, he puts things better than I do. I remember seeing public service announcements a time or three when I was a teen, and thinking--"that's not going to do much good." People laud Facebook as a means of connecting people (and true enough, I hear from people I'd not otherwise hear from), but the connection is so tenuous that people write things they'd not dream of saying in person--there seems to be no governor on the engine.
One mark of a good friendships is that you are a better person because of your association with your friend. Can I be a better person through PostIt-Note friendships?
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