Week 4: New Media, Beliefs, Politics & Ethics
While it is true that Hamelink discusses the internet as a medium upon lying, he makes foundation claims on the internet as a thing:
“Actually, the Internet itself is part and parcel of a common and popular pattern of lies and deceit about the benefits of advanced information and communication technologies.”
Hamelink is correct on the inclusion of the internet, however he’s using it as a base, rather than a method of communication. The internet is transmissible in nearly every sense, along with all other communication mediums.
The internet is a large place, but there’s still purposeful classification. Hamelink asks multiple questions on page 5:
“Can one gossip, lie, or deceive in the virtual world?”
What worries me is the lack of discretion. It depends in what manor and what position one lies in. A lie on a forum about what car you drive is different to a lie on the Presidents website. Hamelink gestures at these statements with morality in question but no morality in foundation.
loudwisper1, even though not qualified, discusses ‘free’ marketed items on the internet. He, makes the statement “stop lying, cause that’s going to make me not even trust you (sic)” at 1.02:
Like many others (Mia Keeting blogged about profiling within music), loudwisper has created a profile of this company, and they now represent one person (whom is lying). It’s not the lie to begin with here, it’s the lie which is then reflected on this profile, something Hamelink doesn’t mention. In my opinion, it’s how people form ideals about others from information they gather, and how they interpret this information (specifically hard over the internet).
Hamelink, C. (2006). The Ethics of the Internet: Can we cope with Lies and Deceit on the Net? In Ideologies of the Internet, K. Sarikakis & Daya Thussu, pp. 115-130. New Jersey: Hampton Press. Available on CMD via QUT Library.
LYING INTERNET MARKETER’S, 2010, online video, accessed 27 march 2011, <
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDtB2pryW_w>.
