Inquiry@Queen's Undergraduate Conference 2009: Sin And Wikipedia

Sin and Wikipedia: Mass Communication

in the 21st Century

Presented by Celine (Ha-Young) SongArtSci ‘10

Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973)

Published in 1958

Radio as a new invention aimed at improving the mass communication technique can easily and readily be utilized for terrible sin!

“[usurps] a prerogative which looks like a distorted analogue, a caricature, of divine omnipresence.”

“man is attempting, without […] involving any real effort on his part, to transcend his human condition and the limitations it entails.”

The Nature of Internet is:

1. In the spirit of Do-It-Yourself2. Increasingly interactive3. Accessible to everyone, anywhere and at

anytime, as long as one is connected to the WWW

4. Controlled by everyone, anywhere and at any time, as long as one is connected to the WWW

5. Users can choose to be anonymous

Radio/TV Internet

Generated by Private station or the state

Anyone with a connection to WWW

Controlled by Private station or the state

Anyone with a connection to WWW

The Result:

Information available is overwhelmingly large in quantity and out of control in quality

1.Propaganda is very difficult/impossible

VS.

2. Users self-regulate

A Relevant Criticism

“What starts off as a collection of means put together to serve an end [might suddenly] be valued and cultivated for its own sake, and in consequence […] become the centre, the focus, of an obsessive cult.”

“make a truly ascetic effort to master [them] and put them in their proper subordinate place, [would] assemble themselves, […] organize themselves, around the man” (195).

“an effort at inner conquest, directed towards an even greater self-mastery.”

Marcel’s Suggested Solution

You are suffering from a distress so deep that it no longer even recognizes itself as such.

Thank you!Questions? Comments?

Marcel, Gabriel. Man against Mass Society. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 2008.