Make Your Voice Heard
There's an arguement that says the internet is democratizing the world. Now anyone can email their local counsellor, tweet their MP, DM their PM. You can petition the UK government directly to have an issue close to your heart discussed in the hallowed chambers of Parliament. And its not just the Powers That Be that are now held to account to the scrutiny of Mr or Mrs Joe/Jo Public. At the bottom of every story or profile posted, every discussion made in the public domain, and every opinion voiced is "The Comments Section". This gives everyone who has an internet connection the right to voice their own opinion, put across their side, vent their feelings...Democracy in action, right?
Now, just think of the last time you delved into a comments section. Think of how easily you found those ideas you agreed with and how quickly you dismissed those you didn't. A quick thought of "Good point, I must look into it" or of "Absolute nutter, that really offends me" before you get a text from a mate, an Insta notification about wall coverings or an email telling you there's 50% off something you don't need... How long before you think of that great idea or offensive slurr again? How much attention do you really pay?
Throughout the response to the Covid epidemic and, before that, Brexit, everywhere I turned I was hearing people complaining they were sick and tired of hearing it, to the point when some would hold up their hands and say "I wish they'd just get on with it". Every news report, news paper, radio talk show, streaming service, billboard, pub beer mat.... This is what happens when a Government thinks we should know about something they care about. When they feel that an issue should be at the top of our agenda. They push the point until we either all had an opinion over Brexit or are now "...hands, face, space..."-ing. Last use of the 'B' word I promise.
Now, clearly, Everyman doesn't have the controls of multi-media outlets to get their points, issues, worries across. What the Democratization of the Internet has actually given the public is a very ineffectual way of demontrating opposition. Have we been given a way of making our voices heard? As i said, how much attention is really paid to what is written on a screen, in a complaints section, in a "feedback" poll? And how many times do our opinions manage to filter through to the inboxes of those who matter?
One cold, frosty morning, the Home Secretary receives an email from one of her under secretaries saying that they've been contacted by the Petitions Commitee informing her that 100,000 people have signed an online petition asking for a review of the asylum process. Now I'm sure that the Home Secretary would not ignore this. Its the wish of 100,000 people after all. She saves the email to her "to do" list. Leaning back, she looks out across Whitehall to see 1,000 people silently protesting about asylum reform. Which has more impact? Which is easier to ignore, sorry, file away? Now imagine the next day, 5,000 people are silently demonstrating. Still only a fifth of the 100,000 e-signatures on the petition. Maybe a millionth of those who have called for it in online forums, comments pages, blogs, facebook posts. The next day, journalists start to arrive, cameras and reporters who hadn't even known about the petition because no-one was shouting about it, even silently.
No more than 5,000 people a day protest, peacefully, non-violently. But these people don't end up falling off the bottom of a comments section, their photo's are not replaced by a larger banner headline, they are noticed again and again and again, their placards read and re-read, slogans repeated. Imagine if the Miner's Strike was carried out through internet based forums, if calls for the toppling of the Berlin Wall had simply been in cyber space, if the #blacklivesmatter campaign hadn't had such prescene on the street or if the Million Man March had been a live streamed event over Zoom.
When it comes down to the importance of online activism, as an organisational tool, I have no problem. But as a way of demonstrating, remember how easily you are distracted and forget what you read in forums and, at the end of the day, if the people you are trying to influence don't want to hear you, they can simply flick the off switch....
P.S. I'm more than aware of the irony that this is posted on a blog site.
Comments
Post a Comment