Is The Internet Making us Stoopid

   In my recent post, The Murder of Discourse, I fear I may have been too hard on the plethora of options that Americans have when choosing different media outlets. We have many public forums of the internet, whether it is Wikipedia or a blog or Twitter or the “MyFace.”
   Like the Atlantic article, is Google making us Stoopid, says, the internet is changing the way we process information. I’m not sure if it is for the worst. I think it is important that people take a step back and think, “Am I adding positively to this debate, or subtracting from it.” If you find yourself, on either side of the political spectrum, rioting and yelling blasphemous claims, it is probably time to take a break and really ask yourself what you are fighting for.
   I love to argue and debate my position. I don’t like to argue for the sake of solely changing the view of others, but also because I enjoy exploring my own views. Yesterday, while struggling to understand the ideas of social constructs and their relation to morals in America I found myself arguing with a friend on the way to rowing practice. Despite the fact that I was perturbing him, I continued to argue my point because the more I argued, the more I understood and honed my vision and theory of the topic. I think if more people could calm down and realize that their arguments are useful to themselves as much as others, and that as Americans we are all working to make the nation better, we could create a powerful and compelling national dialogue on this great new interweb.