Internet Unicorn

Have you ever been part of a productive discussion on the internet?

I mean not including among friends. Especially your friends.

Have you ever seen a single worthwhile comment posted on anything? That rare beast.

The internet makes me feel like Atreyu slopping through the Swamp of Sadness. But then, like a magic creature, noble and pure, it appears. That pristine white horse, the helpful comment.

(Ignoring for now that trolls come and make it sink into the swamp -- we're going to get all our metaphors mixed up.)

I was reading this ProPublica article about a town in Texas that had an EPA decision overturned on them recently. Basically this company (Uranium Energy Corp) is looking at a pocket of uranium sitting on a pocket of pristine, untapped water. Guess which one they think is worth destroying for the other?

The EPA was all "nuh-uh," but then some lobbyist went to work, and now they are all "fine but just the tip."

The comments were what you'd expect for this narrative storied out on an independent not-for-profit news site. Hordes of folks showed up to create the Swamp, just bemoaning the failures of the Obama administration and predicting doom on all of us when the inevitable day comes that we wake up in an episode of the Walking Dead and there's not a drop to drink.

 Ok, ok, maybe some people gave instructions on how to write your government representatives, and maybe I'm too jaded for scoffing at that out of hand. Probably I was distracted by the genius who suggested 'let the politicians come drink the water' as an "elegant solution" to the problem as opposed to a dumb revenge fantasy he drummed up to divert that nasty "I need to do something but I am truly powerless so why bother" feeling. Symbolic action! I did it with my words!

But then one dude goes: "The residents should have their waters analyzed before the mining starts and do it every 3 months there after. If the water gets polluted, maybe the residents will have a bigger pull with the EPA to get the mining stopped?"

 Look, I'm not saying he saved the day. That's the point. Nor am I chastising us all, myself included, for not rushing to Texas' defense. I'm just saying that somehow, against all odds and with no clear external motivation for doing so (see above where the horse drowns in the shit, Kiowa-style), this guy took a second to offer something that was actually contributing to an ACTION PLAN and not just a RANT or a PIPE DREAM. Or illitrate nonsense. And I was really stunned, which kind of brought into focus something I guess I've long thought about the internet.

I want to believe that access changes that. Free knowledge. Humans connecting. Then Zuckerb makes a billion turning the most cherished online community into a fucking billboard that spies on you while Swartz is literally scared to death by society's response to downloading too many JSTOR articles. ("What store?" -Everyone.)

What do you think? Can technology help us have a more productive conversation? Is it just a poor carpenter that blames his tools?