One of the central aspects of the web, as identified in Web Journalism, is immediacy. The original discussion of that characteristic had to do with the web’s similarity to broadcasting in that information could be posted on a web site very quickly. But the web, unlike broadcasting, also brought the possibility of “immediacy with depth” and “immediacy with choice.”

Now, with the development of the blogosphere, there is another aspect of the immediacy characteristic that should be note. Frank Ahrens, in his Washington Post Web Watch column, has a good example. He cites the case of Wal-Mart and its web site:

Early Thursday afternoon, some bloggers discovered a horrifying sight: Wal-Mart's retail Web site was telling potential buyers of "Planet of the Apes" DVDs that they might also like to buy DVDs featuring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., black boxing legend Jack Johnson and black actress Dorothy Dandridge. In another nasty linkage, those titles were also recommended to buyers of a "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" DVD.

Many people are only too willing to think the worst about the giant retailer, and there are a number of web sites and bloggers devoted to bashing the big box. These folks readily saw the connection cited above as an example of Wal-Mart’s racism, and on Thursday and Friday it was being passed around from blogger to blogger.

Wal-Mart quickly issued an apology, explaining that the connection of the DVDs was made by its automated program that tries to connect users with similar products. There was nothing deliberate about what happened; no one was trying to make a racist statement. Lots of retail sites have the same type of program.

But what struck Ahrens was the willingness of so many people to believe that this was a deliberate act on the part of someone at Wal-Mart.

Thursday was a bad day for critical thought. It was amazing, frankly, how quickly some bloggers were ready to believe that Wal-Mart linked its "Planet of the Apes" DVDs to black-themed DVD titles on purpose. Aside from kiddie porn and e-mail scams, this is perhaps the most troubling trait of the Internet: Rather than opening minds, it can close them, thanks to echo-chamber Web sites and blogs.

Which, coincidentally, works on the same premise as retail-site mapping. We like to read Web sites and blogs that we agree with and that reinforce our opinions. Aside from the few of you who practice "know your enemy" browsing, how many of you liberals read http://www.nationalreview.com/ ? How many of you conservatives frequent http://www.thenation.com/ ?

People who hate Wal-Mart are going to flock to anti-Wal-Mart sites and blogs. And they did in droves on Thursday, writing sentiments along the lines of, "Well, what do you expect from a company that has non-progressive labor rules?" In other words: "Well, of course Wal-Mart is racist. Look at how they engage in various practices we don't agree with.

Like any of the other characteristics of the web, immediacy has its down side. This may be one of them

Jim Stovall (Posted Jan. 9, 2006)

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