the first two chapters of the AmGov textbook outlines the blueprint of our government institutions as well as the foundation of the American political culture. Our systems of government are important, but what is more important still is our willingness and capacity to participate in them, and in current day, social media serves as the main facilitator for this political discourse. This ted talk by Victoria Bonney outlines the immense impact that social media has had on the political landscape. She explains that social media has given major political figures the tools to directly speak to their supporters without having to go through news outlets and interviews. This goes both ways, as voters can interact with their representatives and senators in a public manor, an opportunity that would be very rare to come by before the age of the internet. Having such an easy way to communicate also helps up and coming political figures gain popularity without needing a vast web of connections. The political scene is open to everyone now more than ever, and greater opportunity leads to a stronger democracy.
While there are certainly many positive aspects to political social media in theory, recent years have emphasized the negative aspect of having such uncensored public discourse. Bonney explains that political; figures don’t necessarily have to adhere to the facts, and that being big and loud amounts to a good argument in many peoples minds. Content on social media is much harder to regulate than a news interview or a public speech, which results in media sites being rife with misinformation. Sites like twitter can be dangerous, as its algorithm can very easily create political echo chambers which only serve to demonize the other side rather than engage in useful political discourse. the problems and benefits of social media aren’t anything new, they are just amplified characteristics of our first amendment right to free speech. The issues of misinformation, censorship, hate mongering, and problematic speech have always been contentious issues and social media makes those arguments personal to the voter, as waking up and seeing someones homophobic rant on twitter might affect you more than someone doing the same in a political speech you heard about. This highlights how interpersonal politics has become, and that whether we like it or not, we are in the trenches of red vs blue every day. It is truly difficult to decide if social media has helped or hurt our political culture, so ill leave you with these questions to help you out.
- What are some positive aspects of free speech in social media? Any personal examples?
- What are some negative aspects of free speech in social media? Any personal examples?
- Should people use social media as a news source? Why or why not?
- Should sites like twitter have the power to regulate constitutional free speech?
- do you think that social media has had an overall positive impact or negative impact on our political culture?
This assignment was interesting, i don’t think I’m very good at writing blog posts. I was trying to write it like an essay but also keep a more personal appeal which was very tricky for me. My favorite bit was making the discussion questions, and i hope that we get to ask some of them in class. Even if i didn’t feel the most confident about the blog post, i would love to try it again in the future.
Hello,
I thought you discussed the concern of political culture and social media very well. To add onto your comment of “uncensored public discourse”, people conduct themselves entirely different online which fuels fire to many online political discussions. In addition and speaking personally, I have seen many posts that are claimed to be factual and are not when it comes to sharing information. People rally behind these posts that are mostly emotion based rather than fact based which can be a large concern. I agree in what you said about there being a lack of “useful political discourse” and have found that social media can be a large source of division and misinformation.
One question I had concerns your comment of “Our systems of government are important, but what is more important still is our willingness and capacity to participate in them”. I find this a bit confusing as our systems of government cannot function without citizen participation, so they are equally important and rely on one another. Could you elaborate further on what you meant by this? I might just be misunderstanding.
Thank you.
Social media in society is extremely important as our lives depend on technology more and more everyday. It is interesting to evaluate these effects in association with political culture.