[P2P-F] Fwd: Human rights: food for an opinion-manipulating thought

Sun Nov 12 07:46:55 CET 2017

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Claudio Schuftan <cschuftan at phmovement.org>
Date: Sat, Nov 11, 2017 at 4:42 PM
Subject: Human rights: food for an opinion-manipulating thought
To: michel at p2pfoundation.net

Human rights: Food for an opinion-manipulating thought Human Rights Reader
427 OF DATA, COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND HUMAN RIGHTS. In development

Like
<http://sable.madmimi.com/c/16266?id=182485.572.1.b33a0e6636ba2b785b75fc1a9aa8752d&p=eyJ7e21pbWktc2lnbmF0dXJlfX0iOiIxNDI0NDc4MDAtODE4Mzk2MzUwOC01Y2NkNTc0MDMwMTViN2JjNWUwMTcxNWQ3YjAwMTVmMzMwMTI5ZDVkIiwie3tlbWFpbElkfX0iOiIxODI0ODUifQ==>
Tweet
<http://sable.madmimi.com/c/16266?id=182485.573.1.97ab3fb4caa366a3607f5619aa28c590&p=eyJ7e21pbWktc2lnbmF0dXJlfX0iOiIxNDI0NDc4MDAtODE4Mzk2MzUwOC01Y2NkNTc0MDMwMTViN2JjNWUwMTcxNWQ3YjAwMTVmMzMwMTI5ZDVkIiwie3tlbWFpbElkfX0iOiIxODI0ODUifQ==>
Pin
<http://sable.madmimi.com/c/16266?id=182485.574.1.8e8d634e8ae0f816970e8a9e178e7188&p=eyJ7e21pbWktc2lnbmF0dXJlfX0iOiIxNDI0NDc4MDAtODE4Mzk2MzUwOC01Y2NkNTc0MDMwMTViN2JjNWUwMTcxNWQ3YjAwMTVmMzMwMTI5ZDVkIiwie3tlbWFpbElkfX0iOiIxODI0ODUifQ==>
+1
<http://sable.madmimi.com/c/16266?id=182485.575.1.761bcd356c40e9f97693e91a2c13a589&p=eyJ7e21pbWktc2lnbmF0dXJlfX0iOiIxNDI0NDc4MDAtODE4Mzk2MzUwOC01Y2NkNTc0MDMwMTViN2JjNWUwMTcxNWQ3YjAwMTVmMzMwMTI5ZDVkIiwie3tlbWFpbElkfX0iOiIxODI0ODUifQ==>
in
<http://sable.madmimi.com/c/16266?id=182485.576.1.dc6a1c5c573a4ba2d814fe4642a15515&p=eyJ7e21pbWktc2lnbmF0dXJlfX0iOiIxNDI0NDc4MDAtODE4Mzk2MzUwOC01Y2NkNTc0MDMwMTViN2JjNWUwMTcxNWQ3YjAwMTVmMzMwMTI5ZDVkIiwie3tlbWFpbElkfX0iOiIxODI0ODUifQ==>

Human rights: Food for an opinion-manipulating thought

Human Rights Reader 427

*OF DATA, COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND HUMAN RIGHTS.*

*In development work, there is a tendency to confuse political discourse
with technical knowledge, enhancing the power of select experts over a)
political actors/activists, and b) over the empirical knowledge of the
wider population* (Nadia Lambek, Jessica Duncan)

1. Since the use of quantitative measurements can be a means to a biased
end, *data and evidence* from the social sciences *can be used for
regressive ends,* especially depending on what is measured. The question
for human rights (HR) activists is: *Can we*, without the economic clout or
the power to mobilize citizens, *use* the fruits of *measurement as
valuable advocacy tools to promote progressive change* in public policies?
(Bill Jeffries)

2. I do not deny: While measurement is a key component of understanding and
addressing development progress, I do want to point out that *there are
limitations associated with indicator-based measurement tools* (think SDGs)
including:

• *Indicators are often developed on the basis of what data exists and not
on how to best measure progress* towards normative goals.
• Indicators have analytic limitations and *the selection of indicators is
never a neutral process.*

• There are limitations to imposing indicators designed in one context
(e.g., global) to another context (e.g., local).

3. Emphasizing the *quantification* of change *can* thus *lead to mistaking
means* (using quantitative measures for reporting or tracking social
change) *for ends* (reporting or tracking qualitative transformations).
This is often used to stir emotions…(i) (Think Trump)

(i): The Oxford Dictionary added the word post-truth and defined it as the
situation in which objective facts or data influence less than calls to
emotions and to personal beliefs. There thus is a ‘true truth’ and an
‘emotional truth’ and the latter can be said to be a
lie-transformed-by-an-emotion as long as it becomes the belief of a
majority.

4. A wider variety of data and news sources was supposed to be the
safeguard of a rational age. However, studies repeatedly show that *when
confronted with diverse information choices, people rarely act like
rational, civic-minded automatons.* Instead, we are influenced by
preconceptions and biases, and we usually do what feels easiest; *we gorge
on information that confirms our ideas*, and we shun what does not. (think
human rights) If we see something we do not like, we can easily tap away to
something more pleasing. Then we all share what we found with our
like-minded social networks, creating closed-off, shoulder-patting circles
online. This creates an ecosystem in which *the truth value of the
information does not matter. All that matters is whether the information
fits in our narrative.* http://www.nytimes.com/2016/
11/03/technology/how-the-internet-is-loosening-our-
grip-on-the-truth.html?_r=1

*From data to communications*

Optimism in the world of today can only mean a lack of ‘true truth’
information. (Albino Gomez)

5. In this era of exploding communications, let me here just quote a couple
of *respectable opinions*:

• In modern times, *more than communicate we actually ‘connect with each
other’*. Moreover, we live overwhelmed by trying to take in all the
information on offer, but *we spend less time thinking*. (A. Gomez)
• *Social media have given legions of idiots the right to talk*, something
they previously only did in a neighborhood bar with a glass of beer in
their hand --and this did not hurt anybody. (Umberto Eco)
• Used recreationally, *the Internet risks reducing users to mindless
clickers*, racing numbly to the bottom of a bottomless feed; *but done
well, it has* the *potential* to expand and augment the very
action-oriented HR and development space that more and more of us pursue.
(Roberto Bisio)
• At any moment, *public opinion is a chaos* of superstition,
disinformation and prejudice. (Gore Vidal)
• True wisdom does not come from a mere accumulation of *data* that *end up
saturating * in a sort of mental contamination. (Pope Francis)

*From communications to the news media*

Today, achieving a TV appearance has become a sign of elegance and status…
(U. Eco)

6. Best here as well is to quote some *more respectable opinions*:

• Not innocently, *the media neglect offering a reading of the true world*
situation. Why? Because *information has openly become a trade good*. The
media are no longer profitable and whoever purchases the different media
outlets has a personal interest. *Human Rights are ‘too abstract’ for the
media* and so we end up not having a rational view of the world and *we end
up not knowing much of anything other than what is sensationalized*. (R.
Bissio)
• *Newspapers are the toys of a few rich men*. Capitalists and editors are
the new tyrants that have grabbed hold of the world. The media themselves
have become the censors. Newspapers started existing to tell the truth, but
today they exist to impede the truth is told. (G. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936)
[Nothing new under the sun…].
• *The elite makes* good use of its paid agents in academia, in think
tanks, in the corporate media and elsewhere to make *sure that you are kept
carefully misinformed* and told what to think and how to react. (R.
Burrowes)
• *People’s politics are increasingly defined by the media they consume*
rather than by loyalty to parties. (P. Iglesias)
• *Freedom of expression: What good is it if the other does not listen?*
(A. Gomez)
• Can average readers *distinguish fact from opinion*, for instance from
incompetent (or mal-intentioned) coverage? (S. Mysorekar) [Think fake
news].
• Every day, as I read the newspapers, it is as if I am attending a history
lesson. *Newspapers teach me by what they say and importantly by what they
do not*. (Eduardo Galeano)

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
schuftan at gmai.com
All 400+ Readers are available at www.claudioschuftan.com

*Postscript/Marginalia*
George Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Aldous
Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to
passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from
us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.
Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would
become a trivial culture. (Andrew Postman)
[image: Myphotwithquote]

©2017 Claudio Schuftan | 121 38 St BTT D2, Saigon, Vietnam
Web Version
<http://sable.madmimi.com/c/16266?id=182485.577.1.289cf9e0a2ad99829ef86422fbf14ca1&p=eyJ7e21pbWktc2lnbmF0dXJlfX0iOiIxNDI0NDc4MDAtODE4Mzk2MzUwOC01Y2NkNTc0MDMwMTViN2JjNWUwMTcxNWQ3YjAwMTVmMzMwMTI5ZDVkIiwie3tlbWFpbElkfX0iOiIxODI0ODUifQ==>
Forward
<http://sable.madmimi.com/c/16266?id=182485.578.1.d3a78ba944b4467344246f429ce0aa24&p=eyJ7e21pbWktc2lnbmF0dXJlfX0iOiIxNDI0NDc4MDAtODE4Mzk2MzUwOC01Y2NkNTc0MDMwMTViN2JjNWUwMTcxNWQ3YjAwMTVmMzMwMTI5ZDVkIiwie3ttZW1iZXItaWR9fSI6ODE4Mzk2MzUwOCwie3tlbWFpbElkfX0iOiIxODI0ODUifQ==>
Unsubscribe
<https://go.madmimi.com/opt_out?fe=1&pact=182485-142447800-8183963508-5ccd57403015b7bc5e01715d7b0015f330129d5d&amx=8183963508>

Powered by *Mad Mimi*®A GoDaddy® company <https://madmimi.com/?>

-- 
Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

<http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates:
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

#82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ourproject.org/pipermail/p2p-foundation/attachments/20171112/a5d2c202/attachment-0001.html>