SOCS 300 – Politics 2.0
The power of the Web 2.0 was and still is severely underestimated in the ring of political operations. Call it Politics 2.0, and just look at how it has changed the political landscape of the media power balance. Shirky calls it a change from ‘an affiliate model to an Internet model’.
With advertisers increasingly relying on viral spreads of information on the web, politicians cannot help but follow suit. What better way to mass organize, generate more awareness, and reaching a bigger audience than disseminating information through the same pipeline. Shirky mentions that the press do not make the headlines anymore; it is now the people who re-distribute the info. This branching of political awareness through community campaigns and organizations speaks volumes for the general public, who used to be ostracized and observing from the back. People who used to stand and watch can now be a part of it, because motivation is derived from ease of collective organization and management with social tools. They are now active participants, observers and public, all rolled into one. Also, sometimes, with the vast global knowledge of other political climates in other countries through the web, communities might urge their own congressman to advocate similar policies. Through progressive discussion and discourse with other community members, they might discover an alternate (perhaps even better) idea to go about championing a certain political/social cause.
The current ONE PASS NOW campaign is a testament of this phenomenon. Gordon Campbell promised a fair fare (haha…fair fare) pricings for all post-secondary students, and we have yet to see any action being done. Through the ease of gathering community members (or as Facebook call them, fans) and organizing movements with these social tools, this campaign is a championing for call to action for a consensual U-Pass for said students.
However, this begs the question, with more people giving more opinions and being heard by more people with less time, won’t there be more politicians? Should everyone consider themselves a politician then?
I beg to differ.
If this were so, whom would we listen to? This phenomenon of citizen politicians would result in a massive clutter of opinions on how to govern a country. Politicians would no longer be a legitimate job, except a faceless drone and figurehead for re-conveying information already available to the masses. They could be better off re-terming the word ‘politics’ to ‘Opinion-giving-istic’. Sure, the country would then be truly governed by the people, but without the proper training as one, are we all qualified to pick up the mantle?
As a tool, the web removes obstacles for better efficiency of campaign managements, but politicians must never forget that they are potential leaders and they must lead the people, not the other way around.
