Have you had enough of the headache we refer to as the Great US Election of 2020? I certainly have. So much noise and theatrics on both sides of the dividing line that continues to grow wider every day. The news – hogwash at it’s finest. There is no real news, or at least very little that is good available compared to the sea of theatrics, posturing, and name calling from all sides. Even if you see something in front of your own eyes and/or ears – you can’t trust that any of it is real. Skepticism is truly an asset when confronted by all the blathering available. Now here we are at a point where no one can trust anyone, yet we have some politicians who would like everyone to keep an eye on everyone else and what they might be doing that could be considered offensive or selfish. Neighbors reporting neighbors for not following mandated social distancing rules. Everyone blaming everyone else for all the bad in the world. A nation of Us and Them. This can not be good, but this is all a skewed perception influenced by a handful of social content. Information gathered and regurgitated to a small audience when compared to the increase in Internet users we could soon see.
If you only worry about your own small and limited world perception you might not care what other people around the world think as they begin to have more and better access to the Internet. Of course this certainly depends on whether or not the access is unfiltered or blocked, but even here in the western hemisphere the oppurtunity for more and better access to remote locations is changing.
Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation already under construction and in beta testing should have a huge impact on who consumes and who creates content. We should have more users connecting with new or improved Internet access, and if you apply this to much of the world’s remote locations – new users mean new audience as well as new points of view. Many eyes and ears from which many other perspectives will be added to the mix.
This years political noise is just that – noise. There will be other fake news stories to wade through, but there may also be a shift to other providers of information that aren’t necesarily controlled by large corporations or partisan sponsors. We already have seen people using social media to stream live events and there are many content providers producing there own video content, but the main platforms are still somewhar limited, and as we have seen some creators are being restricted by these media platform’s social and political leanings.
I would not be suprised to see Starlink’s promise of affordable, dependable, and accesability opens the doors to much wider audiences for all content providers. Working from more remote locations, and communicating with those locations will change the lives of many. More people, more ideas, more voices should provide alternatives to what is still limited sources of information in many parts of the world. Propaganda or Fake News currently have some alternatives but the big players still hold the spotlight. They can continue to pump out their messages to the masses, but if the people have alternatives it seems inevitable that they will eventually lose their grip.
Of course this could lead to even more noise and more fake news comming from more outlets, Unfortuanatly you will still have to rely on your own judgement and skeptisism, but you should also have more resources to do your own fact checking. Don’t rely on someone else to do your fact checking for you. We each have to have some responsability for what we beleive and what we don’t.
Communication can change the world, but it can also disrupt the sleep of many. On a cold winter’s night sleep can also serve as a peaceful alternative to participation in the spectical that was once considered entertainment primarily to sell laundry soap.