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Civil Disobedience

This morning, I read this:

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-30105541

This is amusing on several levels, not the least of which is that it's just clever and witty.

What I like about this, however, is that it shows the power of social media to help address issues of concern. These images from Russia are cleverly subtitled in a witty way that highlights both the problems extant in Russia as well as excesses seen in other western cultures. I've seen this kind of thing done before, but it's usually done just to be silly or to prove how witty one is. Here's an example from a buddy of mine:

http://lanep.org/potw3/archive.cgi

They're old, but they illustrate the point.

Social media is powerful in many ways. It helps people keep in touch. It helps folks share information - pictures, stories, videos, etc. - in ways that were impossible even to consider as little as 10-15 years ago. But it also can help foment social change. Because of the "instant" nature of the various media, people can exchange ideas and make plans that help coordinate. The various media also helps disseminate new information regarding different ideas and points of view. This has ever been the bane of the dictator - how to control information. With the ability of so many to gain access to so much information so readily - shucks, we carry more information in our pockets than our grandparents had access to... literal libraries of information - it is difficult to constrain new ideas from spreading.

And this is a good thing.

Because the only way to fight against an idea is with another idea.

The information revolution that started with Gutenberg continues today with Zuckerberg.

Comments

Bill Cobabe said…
PS - My son and I had a discussion about the internet and anonymity. He asserted that the internet enabled people to be more bold and brash than they would in real life because of the anonymity of the thing. He noted that people will often say things online that they would never say to another's face or in the "real" world. I asked him why that was the case, and he said that looking someone in the face reminds us that they are a human being with feelings and an ego which may be bruised. Online conversations can be more confrontational because we're looking at written words rather than people.

My hope is that, even in our civil disobedience, we can maintain a civil dialogue, filled with respect and admiration and deference. I know I can improve in that aspect.
November 24, 2014 at 8:39 AM
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