MoneyAndEthnics

The power of disenfranchisement is quite clear. If it is possible to reduce the total number of voters while keeping constant the number of voters supporting a given side, then the side with the constant number of voters will have a better chance of winning an election. Notions as simple as disenfranchisement prove compelling and rarely become obsolete. The methods of disenfranchisement, on the other hand, do change with time. Examples range in subtlety from blatant restrictions on voter eligibility based on sex and ethnicity in the past to the current technique of fomenting voter apathy with the goal of convincing people to disenfranchise themselves. Recently, an example of apathy generating propaganda hit the mark among my circle of friends and was circulated with exclamations affirming the message. I found it troubling.
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Attention in the world is again focused on the barbaric acts of those uncivilized barbarians living on the other side of the barbarian divide. Depending on your side of the divide you can assume that I’m describing either a horde of crazed islamic fanatics ready to kidnap someone if they notice the slightest wisp of blonde hair beneath a cheap wig or a horde of christian technocrats rallying behind the curtain of free speech cut in the pattern of a cross. Oh, the power of a sharp and pointy pen thrust deep into the vulnerable well known underbelly of a culture. I’m talking, of course, about the ‘political’ cartoons (not safe for muslims) published throughout the world, generally, not to make the point of the cartoonist, but rather to support a newspaper’s right to print what they will. (more…)

Where do you get your news everyday? What tools do you use to fashion opinions and how do you factor bias into your use of these tools? Can the web, famous for both lowering the cost of entry into the market of providing information and the cost of reaching millions, be used to determine, warn and ultimately moderate bias in both traditional and internet media sources? I believe the answer is yes and provide here a brief sketch of how this can be achieved. (more…)

Ten years ago, I was sitting with my friend Nick in his apartment in Montreal, watching post referendum coverage. We had just come back from a victory jaunt around downtown, jittery from walking through, among other things, a cordon of riot police, batons at the ready. (more…)