February 7th, 2011
So what happens if the Egyptian government falls and Twitter/Facebook aren’t a major source of the people power? Just asking.
Galley Friend C.A. has a different worry:
I don’t know much, but I do know this. If Egypt falls apart it’s because Sullivan, Ambinder, and Reynolds didn’t turn their Twitter feeds green.
Hernanii February 7, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Just Asking:
Why are so many people –Morozov, Lee Siegel, Frank Rich, Malcolm Gladwell– investing so much snark and energy in making fun of Sullivan, Shirky, Ambinder? I don’t get it. Instead of looking at the real issue (Egypt), they obsess about a group of commentators and refuse to their claim. Are social networks having a relevant role in the uprising or not? The “skeptics” won’t say –they just make fun of the “cyber-utopians”.
But I don’t find any of the skeptics’ argument too strong. A popular argument (Gladwell started it) is that because there were revolutions before Twitter, then Twitter has nothing to to with present day uprisings. The other one (Mozorov) says that because governments can shut down or use the Internet to spy on its citizens, then the Internet is a bad thing (or, at least, neutral). Which is also not at all convincing for me. If Mubarak has to shut down the Internet, it means the opposite–it means that the so-called (by the skeptics) silly Facebook or Twitter activists are actually making a dent–he’s scared of something.
But it might even be more basic than that. I guess Mozorov would agree that (to put an absurdist example) orange juice is good for you. What if, for political reasons, the FDA decided to ban the sale of orange juice in the 50 states? Would you say the O.J. is “neutral” for your body because the government can take it away from you?
I am really asking in good faith, and I know you just posted a little thing and that I am now rambling about a lot of other stuff. But I am very surprised about how all these critics of Facebook and Twitter don’t look at the situation in the way you should address most of its things–i.e., on net, ceteris paribus, are Facebook and Twitter helping or endangering the cause of freedom, accelerating or holding back Mubarak’s departure? I think we would all agree that they are helping and accelerating. Maybe not as much as some people say, maybe not as little as some other people says–but then it is just a matter of degree.
Saludos!
Hernán