The war for the mind

Quote:

‘The world has become immune to the lightning transformation of reality through various media images and mechanisms of control’

DR JEAN ANTOINE-DUNNE

LAST TUESDAY Digicel TT rolled out its latest network LTE (Long Term Evolution). It boasts increased and faster access and greater connectivity.

Digicel and its boss Denis O’Brien have a history of dominance in the world of communication. In fact, O’Brien, who is the richest citizen of Ireland, owns or controls all the radio stations in the Republic of Ireland, with the exception of those owned by the State (Raidio Teilifis Eireann or RTE). He also has controlling interests in key national newspapers and has been described as “the biggest player in Ireland’s media landscape.” He has also had a long running controversial relationship with journalists over matters of their free speech and their desire for objectivity in news reporting in Ireland.

Coincidentally, last Monday, Donald Trump made world headlines (again) by apparently absolving Russia of involvement in US election interference. He said on Monday, “I don’t see any reason why it would be.” By Tuesday, some 24 hours later, the media reported that he had in fact done a double take and claimed that he actually meant the exact opposite. “The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia,’” Trump said. “Sort of a double negative.”

Trump too has control over the media through his capacity to manipulate discourse and media images, partly due to his use of controversy. There is no such thing as bad publicity.

The world has become immune to the lightning transformation of reality through various media images and mechanisms of control, so much so in fact that that we barely blink. Now that Digicel has rolled out its super-fast 4G network in Trinidad, there will be increased access to videos and chat rooms and the world of virtual reality in general. And since the internet has become the new playing field for testing and reshaping public opinion and mindsets, Digicel’s 4G network is big news indeed.

In a world of increasing double speech where “would” rapidly turns into “wouldn’t,” the internet is the new dreamscape. It shapes dreams and reverses reality. Even the past is remodelled seconds after an event has occurred. Forget nostalgia or how things were or seem, the reality is, who knows what actually happened anyway? But that is only the fringe of this virtual world we inhabit.

We all need dreamscapes. Reading is a way of entering these dream spaces, as is writing. And I have spent a lifetime dreaming. But the dream has taken on a new reality in our digital stratosphere. It is possible to say and reshape with speed and efficiency. And as soon as the sayer recognises that the audience is accepting of a particular reality, he can reinforce it. He can also deny it if the bid for our minds has failed. The truth is that the mind is under constant attack by virtue of the very fact that it has become accustomed to the play of a new kind of fiction. Images and ideas repeat themselves and change how we see and feel.

Research suggests that the play of media images has a significant role in the desensitisation that enables some of the horrific crimes that the world is currently experiencing. The fact is that now we hardly notice. It might well be all a game.

Recently a mother discovered that her seven-year-old was watching an online game that can be downloaded as a mobile app, where her avatar character was being raped by other avatar players. This was on a game accessible to young children. I asked someone who is an IT expert to explain how this could happen in a children’s game. He said, “Its development platform enables any user to create any environment or world that they desire.” So the question then becomes: are there adequate regulations to prevent this?

In Ireland recently, two 13-year-old boys were arrested for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. One was later released and the other charged. In the UK there is a similar case before the courts where a 16-year-old boy has been charged with raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl. There is increasing research that suggests that the growing number of crimes by children is directly related to internet images and that the young are becoming desensitised and even motivated towards particular crimes by their use of the internet.

But the war for the mind is unrelenting and includes images and words that fly freely on the media and become so familiar that we no longer even notice their virulence. Violence circulated as global news where young children are seen as animals to be caged, or people of certain ethnicities are projected as less than human and even unworthy of life and protection, becomes part of our living landscape.

Yes. A super-fast network is a thing to be savoured, as is a good newspaper. It is also wonderful to live in a global village. The Web is fantastic. But fantasy has to end somewhere and must have its limits.