Social Tyranny and Democratic Governance in the Information Age

The development and diffusion of inexpensive, reliable and easy to use public Internet access means that large portions of the U.S. and global populations now regularly communicate with one another. Will the increasing penetration of the Internet into the social and political lives of people facilitate Thomas Jefferson's vision of a world "founded on the primacy of individual liberty and a commitment to pluralism, diversity, and Community"? While many people believe that the answer to this question is "yes", such affirmations often rest on adducing cases not theoretically linked to one another. In contrast, the present paper provides a broadly philosophical, conceptual analysis of how use of the Internet can lead to forms of "social tyranny" in which one or more elements of a community impose their own beliefs and interests on others in that community. For instance, dependence on Internet access and use for social action or pertinent information about social activities may lead to marginalization and exclusion for people whose Internet access or use is limited. Furthermore, the connectedness or mode of connectedness of groups or organizations may give them an unfair advantage disseminating and advocating the messages they deliver to members of the communities in which they exist. The conclusion is not that we should adopt attitudes and policies that are antithetical to the use of the Internet. Rather, using ideas from Dewey and Habermas, amongst others, the conclusion is that it is important to reflect broadly and critically on how use of the Internet can transform the character of the public domain and the deliberations about governance that occur within that domain.

价格低廉、可靠且易于使用的公共互联网接入方式的发展与普及，意味着如今美国及全球很大一部分人口能够经常相互交流。互联网日益深入人们的社会和政治生活，这是否会推动实现托马斯·杰斐逊所设想的那个 “建立在个人自由至上以及对多元主义、多样性和社群的坚守基础之上” 的世界呢？尽管许多人认为这个问题的答案是 “肯定的”，但此类论断往往只是列举一些在理论上并无关联的事例。相比之下，本文从广义的哲学和概念层面进行分析，探讨互联网的使用如何可能导致 “社会暴政” 的出现，即社群中的一个或多个群体将自身的信仰和利益强加给社群内的其他成员。例如，若社会行动或获取社会活动相关信息依赖于互联网接入与使用，那么那些互联网接入或使用受限的人群可能会因此被边缘化和排斥。此外，团体或组织的互联程度或互联模式，可能使它们在向所在社群成员传播和宣扬其信息时获得不公平的优势。得出的结论并非是我们应采取与使用互联网相悖的态度和政策。相反，借鉴杜威、哈贝马斯等人的观点，结论是广泛且批判性地思考互联网的使用如何改变公共领域的特性以及该领域内有关治理的讨论，这一点至关重要。