Web 2.0: Leading Us Into The Dark

                In several Articles read in class and out, they have talked mainly about Web 2.0 and some of its interesting qualities. In Andrew Keen’s book, The Cult of the Amateur, Keen suggests that this Web 2.0 has a dark side to it as well. However, in his first chapter, “The Great Seduction, Keen’s argument is only the small beginnings of his main argument. Throughout, Keen uses the argument of cause to help him make his points. In Chapter 1, he argues that Web 2.0, rather than giving us in depth analysis of the world around us, is instead dishing out a “superficial observation”. Here Keen refers to the “Amateur” on the web, and how anyone is capable of writing about a news story, but only some should be allowed to; for only some are more than an artificial reflection. This, Keen says is all thanks to democratization which is now “undermining truth” and “belittling expertise”. Here we see an example of argument of cause. By allowing amateurs to write, we are giving up the need/want for expertise in our news stories today. But how? How can democratization, the floor that our own country stands on, be responsible for this? In short it is because, we are creating a world where “author and audience are increasingly undistinguishable and authenticity is almost impossible to verify”. Here Keen uses the argument of cause once again: Because of democratization, it is now hard to differentiate between author and audience. And not being able to differentiate between the two, is leading us blindly into the dark.