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The Internet hasbeen called the universal marketplace of ideas. But as Cass Sunstein asserts inOn Rumors, the World Wide Web hasalso worsened the human tendency toward destructive, misleading gossip. The HarvardLaw professor identifies the cascading effect of the Internet, allowingrumorsdefined as unsubstantiated claims of any kindto spread across the globwith tsunami force and speed. What results is “group polarization.” Thelike-minded end up with a more extreme version of what they already believedthrough the echo chamber of online “communities,” which can turn into ghettosof the mind. Despite the “self-correcting” facet of the Internet, the old rulestill applies: It’s hard to wash off mud once it sticks.
