Just Because A Population Isn't Politically Active Now, Doesn't Mean They Can't Become Politically Active Quickly
from the predetermined-conclusions dept
We recently wrote about the Russian government's plans to ward off populist protests against the government by making service providers liable for what their users have to say -- an attempt to effectively get third party service providers to censor content. Clay Shirky has picked up on this story, with a fascinating discussion of the role of social media in these protests, coming down firmly in the camp of believing that social media clearly has a role, and Russia's response more or less verifies that. But what struck me as most interesting about his piece, was the part where he points out the folly of commentators assuming that people generally are inert when it comes to their willingness to be active in politics. He quotes an article about the Kremlin's plans, where it notes that:Russia's 40 million Internet users -- the country's middle class and most active segment of the population -- have shown remarkably little interest in this political struggle. This means that the Kremlin's battle to prevent an imminent Facebook revolution will remain largely virtual.But then he notes that this makes a major assumption that people who aren't showing interest right now won't show interest later -- perhaps driven by widespread communication on social media platforms:
The unpoliticized nature of Russian internet use is presented as evidence of its political inertness. The underlying observation is correct, of course; young people the world over typically don't use the internet for political activism, but to seek employment or distraction. This is then assumed to be evidence that these same young people are inherently apolitical. The second assumption doesn't follow from the first, however, as illustrated by the events in Tunisia.I think that's a really key point. It still doesn't mean that these protests and government changes are entirely due to social media, but ignoring the role that social media may have had in helping to politicize people who were previously unpoliticized -- if not unpolitical -- should not be understated.
Prior to December 18th, Tunisia's 2.8 million internet users--the country's middle class and most active segment of the population--had shown remarkably little interest in political struggle there either, and that country subsequently underwent as thorough a revolution as has been seen in the region since 1979, one in which the organizers both used and credited social media (principally camera phones and social networks) as effective in aiding Ben Ali's overthrow.
I blame academia for planting the notion that people either are or are not political, and that we can read that aspect of their identity from their daily practice. Because universities put the PoliSci department down the street from Economics and all the way across the quad from Media Studies, we encourage people to think these are actually separate things. Meanwhile, out in the real world, they are all mixed up; you could ask whether an unemployed protester joining her friends to march on Parliament is making an economic, social, or political choice, but the answer would be "Yes."
The North African revolutions and remind us that citizens aren't so much political or apolitical as they are politicized or unpoliticized at any given moment; even people who don�t like discussing politics in their spare time can turn out in the Tahrir Square when the serious business starts.
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
Filed Under: politics, russia, social media
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I thought the...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Instantaneous vs. average
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Instantaneous vs. average
The average truth is that people only take action if it affects them, not by what others say or do, there needs to be a trigger a very real trigger that will fuel their actions then rhetoric is used to justify those actions.
I have been noticing that for a decade now, people don't pay attention to theoreticals, apparently there needs to be something that touches them for something to spread.
When copyrights was just about companies suing each other nobody took notice, now that it is affecting them negatively more people pay attention to the issue.
What you probably call inaction is a natural social mechanism where people dismiss hearsay and only pay attention to what happens around them because is the only thing they can confirm.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Instantaneous vs. average
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Instantaneous vs. average
I think that (in North-African/Mid-East upheaval) a threshold was crossed that demanded immediacy because there was no near event-horizon in which the hope of change could happen. If Egyptians knew that in 2-4 years they could vote the bum out without risking lives or imprisonment, would the rebellion have reached such a crescendo? I doubt it. And would platitudes from the president and laying-low have appeased the masses in the hope that apathy could allow him to regain the "whatever, I'm fine with the status quo" vote when elections next rolled around?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Instantaneous vs. average
exceptions exist, naturally, but representative democracy's big thing is not actually, liberty, justice, the people having a say, th ewill of the people, or anything of the sort. the one and only thing it does well is stability. which is fine as longa s everything works...b ut the moment something breaks it just makes it massively harder to fix again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Investment
Where the social media comes in is now, instead of someone sitting at home and crumpling the newspaper up in disgust, or yelling at the television, they can connect with others.
Few people want to go to the courthouse steps and start yelling about how bad the current system is, but provide them with the support of a few thousand people and things change very quickly.
People are no longer saying "I'm just one person I don't matter" they are saying "Where do I find others who agree with me".
Those in positions of power (any kind of power) should be concerned.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Investment
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
lulz
"even people who don�t like discussing politics in their spare time can turn out in the Tahrir Square when the serious business starts."
"even people who don�t like discussing politics in can turn out when the serious business starts."
"people who don�t like discussing politics turn out when the serious business starts."
"people turn out when the serious business starts."
"serious business"
lulz.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sorry!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
At bare minimum, perhaps one or more media sources would pick it up, and turn techdirt.com into a "star" property.
In my opinion, his goals are incredibly transparent at times. It's fun to watch him start to try to build momentum up to see how people feel. This story, with only a handful of real comments, has got to be a downer for him. He uses commentary levels as his measurement of success. If he can find the button to push to whip up the troops, he will push it over and over again (see the TSA stories). It's his apparent modus operandi.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]