Debate: has the internet improved politics for better or for the worse?

[Jesus save us]

?

[angus]

worse.  It means more people have just enough information to be dangerous.  

Democracy is overrated.  (That deserves its own thread, I'm certain.)  Democracy means the great unwashed masses make their own decisions.  That works fairly well in small, ethnically homogeneous lands like Denmark and Norway, but it generally doesn't in giant nations like India, China, and the United States, of which only one has figured out that it doesn't work so well.  

Anyway, giving people instant access to conspiracy theories and partially (or not at all) considered analyses of history, and giving them just enough education to be able to read and write, is a recipe for disaster.  George Orwell predicted this back in 1948.  We're livin' the dream.  Or, better yet, the nightmare.

[White Trash]

worse.  It means more people have just enough information to be dangerous.  

Democracy is overrated.  (That deserves its own thread, I'm certain.)  Democracy means the great unwashed masses make their own decisions.  That works fairly well in small, ethnically homogeneous lands like Denmark and Norway, but it generally doesn't in giant nations like India, China, and the United States, of which only one has figured out that it doesn't work so well.  

Please oh enlightened one, tell us unwashed and vulgar masses who deserves the right to vote?

[angus]

none, and all, grasshopper.

every man has the instinct to choose the path, but no man has the blessings of the universe when he tries to impose his will upon others.  This is the paradox of our American version of democratic sovereignty, as anyone who calls himself "white trash" surely must understand.

[Sir Mohamed]

Both. Very interesting topic though. I don’t want to go into the details, but it did both. It advanced access to information, and especially a broader range of information, like Wikipedia for example. But things like the so called Fake News and hate speech have become serious problems.

[Make My Bank Account Great Again]

Both. Very interesting topic though. I don’t want to go into the details, but it did both. It advanced access to information, and especially a broader range of information, like Wikipedia for example. But things like the so called Fake News and hate speech have become serious problems.

I agree with this.

It provides more access to information, but that information can be either accurate and informative or misleading and outright false.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Internet as a whole yes, but Social media no.

[Goldwater]

Internet as a whole yes, but Social media no.

The thing is, one can't really exist without the other.

[Mercenary]

It makes nutters views mote widely known but probably has neutral impact overall.
Would be nice if Alt righters and SWJ types.would go back in their holes though.

[Leinad]

The internet has made it easier to break reliance on the mainstream media, and look through the world with your own lense. In a sense this has made things worse, in that access to billions has paradoxically led to people hiding in their own echo-chambers. But overall I'd say that's a positive, in that it allows a variety of thoughts to spread, makes it harder to suppress news stories or groups, and makes it easier to expand anti-establishment movements such as my own (libertarianism).

If there is any hope to topple the two-party system, it is with the internet. Yet it might just take down everything else with it.

[Waterfall]

Politics is one of those things that can only be made worse. If you don't believe me, point to a single time when politics became better.

The question is, has the internet sped up the process? The answer should be obvious.

[Antonio the Sixth]

How can you improve something for the worse?

[dead0man]

How can you improve something for the worse?

If you're really sarcastic when you say the "improved" part?