The Emerging Effects of the New Media

 

I keep hearing and seeing online that Catholicism is now suddenly growing in Britain, France, the US. It is growing across Africa, in China, Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan, even in places like Iran. Generation Z, and Generation Z men in particular, are reputedly showing up in Catholic Churches. Famous celebrities are publicly converting. 

Why now?

I think we are beginning to see the fruits of the new media. Governments and establishments have tried to control what people hear and think. They control through restricting what appears in the media, and wat is taught in the schools. Now that filter is off, despite their desperate rear-guard actions, because everyone now in effect owns a printing press and a television network.

Just as John Stuart Mill explained, the only way to arrive at truth is to ensure that all voices are heard.

In particular, we are seeing debates online. This actually used to be how universities worked: teachers established their reputation through public debates and lectures. Buddhism advanced in the subcontinent, and Christianity in Eastern Europe, through public debates. 

Let those public debates happen, and, over time, it becomes apparent that Christianity, and Catholicism, have all the best answers. We cannot overestimate the influence of online personalities like Wiliam Lane Craig, Bishop Barron, Michael Knowles, Andrew Klavan, Charlie Kirk, all laying out the case.

New Atheism had its part to play, in provoking this response, but the major factor is simply the New Media. While it can spread misinformation and lies as easily as truth, a good argument, and especially a good debate performance, cannot really be faked. The reasoning stands up, or it does not.

Proof that the New Media is the main cause of this awakening is that Gen Z is most affected. Gen Z is most inclined to get their information from new media, and not from the establishment channels.

Catholicism is simply the most coherent and plausible explanation for life and the universe. Which is shy the urgency to spread the gospel. Secular scientism, the political religion of Marxism, and, dare I say it, to an extent also Islam and Protestantism, have maintained their influence largely by restricting information and spreading falsehoods about Catholicism, its history and beliefs.

In the midst of present turmoil, this suggests that good times are coming. Better times than we have yet seen.

Journalism Dies in Darkness

 

It seems indisputable by now that the modern left has gone insane. It has been insane for a long time, really, in a low-key, narcissist way. But narcissists, called out, can sometimes become outright psychotic: disconnected from reality in an obvious way.

In his latest column, my leftward pal Xerxes writes “the US media [has at last] acknowledged that they have ethical responsibilities.” Yet what he cites as indicating this is the breakdown in US media of journalistic ethics. War is peace; ignorance is strength.

Specifically, he lauds six US networks for cutting off their president on-air in mid-sentence.

The first job of a journalist, self-evidently, is to report, not to suppress, the news. The US president addressing the nation is self-evidently important news in the US. If he speaks immediately after a contested election, they could hardly be more newsworthy. His remarks are false or inflammatory? That makes it more newsworthy still. You are encouraging journalistic malpractice: “journalists” suppressing news. This is morally equivalent to doctors poisoning their patients, policemen running shakedown rackets, or teachers actively preventing learning.

He more grudgingly lauds two other networks for showing Trump’s full speech, then following it with members of their own staff contradicting his claims. This is an unambiguous violation of the journalistic obligation of fairness: “journalists must present facts with impartiality and neutrality” (Wikipedia entry on journalistic ethics). Proper procedure is to get quotes from both sides of the argument--not to take sides. Nor would it have been difficult for an honest network to have gotten an immediate response to the president’s statement from some Democratic spokesman. If the journal wishes to express an opinion, this is done in a clearly-marked editorial or opinion segment. To simply declare a source’s statement false in the process of supposedly reporting straight news constitutes fraud. 

Sadly, this abandonment of journalistic ethics is becoming the norm. As a result, journalism in general is in dire straits. “Old media” is not dying simply because of the technological competition from new media. New media sources like Vox or Vice too have been losing readership and viewership, so long as they employ professional journalists and the same ethical standards; established brands cannot transition their existing news operations to the new platforms. They cannot compete with the new “citizen journalists” because they are no longer trusted. Surveys show this as well.

The Western Standard Is Back

This is cool. Following in the footsteps of Catholic Insight, The Western Standard is back as an online publication.

Neither, perhaps, was ever really dead. This is just the transition from the old media model to the new media.