Technology And Its Impact On Political Leaders
from the who-always-underestimate-it... dept
From textually comes a short, but quite interesting, summary of how new technologies have given people more power over news and information and how it always seems to catch the political elite (used to controlling information) unaware. What were we just saying about new technologies keeping people honest? Still, there are those who will (rightfully) argue that technology can also be used by those in power to do harm as well. Technology is not a one way street. Still it is interesting to see how often political leaders completely underestimate the power of technology in the hands of their own citizens.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
What about overestimation and demagoguery?
When anybody can produce low-quality information that is supposedly "grass roots" and "genuine", what's to prevent political operatives from spreading false rumors, e.g. that Jews all took vacations on September 11th because they knew it was coming. This tidbit, spread as "the truth" on many "independent" media sites, was just a rumor cooked up by Arab media.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Clueless politicos
You get to be a political leader by working your way up through the system (unless you're fabulously wealthy or your last name is Schwarzenegger, of course). This takes time, which ensures that most powerful politicos are middle-aged or older. That demographic is always surprised by technological development, and always will be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Clueless politicos
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Inappropriate example
A better example of technology leveling the playing field is http://www.acepilots.com/unscam/, which provides an authoritative resource on a story that the powerful are trying to ignore.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]