playedoutin thisethosin thelastfew
years.
Theother locationfortheinven-
tionoftruthphenomenonis found
ontheInternet andsocialmedia,the
runawayspread ofrumour, innu-
endoandoftensheerabusetocon-
taminate the ethos of politics;
interventions intendedtogenerate
ideological passionsrather thanin-
vestigativereporting,making things
upto havequickpoliticaleffect,and
whichtakes fact-checkers a long
timeto thencorrect,oftentoolateto
pre-emptthebadeffects.Thishas
becomea matterof greatconcernto
everyone,andobviouslysincethe
technologyisfairlynew,thisphe-
nomenonisrelativelyunpreceden-
tedat leastonthescalethatwehave
beenwitnessingin recentyears.
ROLEOFTHEINTERNET
Wouldyousaythenthat,all saidand
done,theInternetin generalis a
technologythatonthewholehas
hadbadeffectsonpoliticsand
culture?
Likeanytechnology,it is certainly
susceptibletoterrible abuse.Butit
alsohasa goodside,obviously.After
all,allsortsofveryhonourabledis-
sidentreportingandopinion pieces
thatcouldnevergetintothemain-
streammediapublications or broad-
castscanbefoundontheInternet.
Youcangetvirtually nothingoutside
theliberalconsensusonthemain-
streammedia.Justlikeyoucan’tget
it in almostanyclassroomor seminar
room.OnlysearchesontheInternet
makethemavailable.Allthisis well
knownandoftensaidabout theIn-
ternet,of course.So,I amjustrepeat-
ingthingseverybodyknows.
Butwhatis lessoftensaidis that
mostpeople,mostworkingpeople
witha longdayjobandoftenlong
commutes,don’thaveanytimeto
lookuptheremotesitesontheInter-
netwherethetruths, oftenwithheld
inthemainstreampress,areavail-
able.Thatis the realproblemin all of
modernsociety. Forthem,theInter-
netis mostlya resortofrecreation
fromthechoresofworkandfamily
dutiesdayafter day.Fatigued by
thesechoresandduties,theyturnto
whateverlittlefrivolitytheycanget
asrecreationontheInternet. Itis
widelyreportedbysurveys thatmost
workingpeoplegoto theInternet to
eithershop,toreadaboutsports, or
toreadaboutcelebrities,or(inthe
casemostlyofmen) toviewporno-
graphy.So,thegoodandvaluable
thingsthatwouldmakea difference
topoliticsanddemocracy,sitesof
realinformation unavailableelse-
where,tendto beviewedmuchmore
bytheprivilegedwhohavetimeon
theirhands.
Andthatbringsus fullcircleback
to thefundamentalissuesabout cap-
italismwebeganwith.Youcan’tjust
dealwiththeseissuesbycomplain-
ingabout Internettechnology.None
ofthisisgoingtobecorrectedor
changed unless youchangethemuch
more background conditions in
which working people are com-
pletelylockedintothislifeof stagna-
tion,poverty,drudgery,alienation.
Theresimplyis nogettingawayfrom
those deeper and fundamental
issues.COGNITIVEGENEROSITYSo,youwouldnotlaytheblameon
thetechnologyitself?
That’sright. Thetechnologyis neut-
ral,asalltechnologyis.It canbea
siteofgoodandbad.ThereisnopointconstantlybemoaningtheIn-
ternetandsocialmedia.Andactu-
ally,whileweareonthesubject,I
shouldmentiononethingaboutthe
technologyof theInternetthatis not
only good but something I find
rathermoving.Ihadnotrealisedun-
tilthistechnologycametowide-
spread use that human beings
possesseda certainrathertouching
trait.It is onlythistechnologythat
hasreleasedthistraitinhumanbe-
ings.If it existedbefore(whichit no
doubtdidsincetraits,inthestrict
sense,area productof evolution),it
tookthisnewtechnologyto triggerit
andmanifestit inhumansocialbe-
haviour.I don’tknowhowtode-
scribethistraitexactly.It is a formof
generosity,butit is a cognitive gener-
osity,nota material generosity. It is
thegenerosity ofwanting toshare
whatever littleknowledgeonemight
possesswithothers.I hadnoidea
thatwehumanbeingshadthistrait.
It reallyis notto beconfusedwith
material generosity.Someonewho
hasnever givena pennytoOxfam,
neverthelessoftenhaswhat I am
calling“cognitive” generosity.She
wantstosharewhatever sheknows
witheveryonebyputting it onthe
Web.Anylittlething.Someonehas
madea goodbiryani; hewillputthe
recipeontheWeb. Someonehas
founda wayof gettinginkstainsoff
clothes;hewill writeit upandputit
ontheWeb. Someonehas heard
somefinemusic;shewillpostit on
theWeb.Thisis quiteremarkable.
Youcan’tjustsaytheydoit forthe
limelight.Theyoftendoit anonym-
ously.Theyjustwanttosharewhat
theyknow,howeverhumble.I could
nothaveguessedthatwehadthis
trait 30 yearsago.Onlythisrecent
technologyof theInternet hasmade
it evidentto methatwehaveit. $JipsonJohnandJitheeshP.M.are
fellowsat Tricontinental:Institute
for SocialResearchandcontribute
to various nationaland
international publications,
includingTheHindu,TheCaravan,
TheWireandMonthlyReview.The
writerscanbe reachedat
[email protected]
[email protected].ANTONIOGRAMSCI.
“InGramsci’sspecialsense,
hegemonymeansthat a class gets
to betherulingclassbyconvincing
allotherclasses thatits interests
arethe interestsof allother
classes.”THEHINDUARCHIVES