but i didn't change my mind. the question is, what is the problem with facebook in the first place? the history of modern media has always been entangled with state&capital, with power, control and hierarchy. tv stations, newspapers, book publishers in the past were large corporations with best connections to the political hierarchy and the upper class. the content of the media was likewise shifted in their favor. in fact, massmedia provided a far more extreme tool of social control then the police or the military - by shaping the opinions of the masses, and always shaping their opinion away from revolution.
but media in the past could always be subverted. used for anarchism and social unrest. anarchist newspapers. DIY film documentaries on social issues. anarchist books.
now we enter modern media, social media. the problem with these is that it is already a next generation of media. that is almost (!) impossible to subvert or to be used for anarchist causes.
think of it for yourself. in the 19th and early 20th century, anarchist published newspapers played an important role in the class struggle. do you think setting up an anarchist group on facebook would have the same effect? or any effect in the real world at all? this is because facebook is built in such a way to annihilate the radical or deviant energy of a post or group or message in the moment it ends up on facebook. (*how* facebook does this would be an interesting, but wholly different topic).
traditional media banned radical content. nice try to get an anarchist column in a normal newspaper, or an anarchist show on tv. those in power won't allow it. with facebook it's different: part of why facebook is used by so many is because it encourages it's users to post subcultural, anarchist or "radical" content too. not that there is no censorship - this is an important topic too. but generally, facebook doesn't need censorship in the same way traditional media used, because it can annihilate radical intent in the moment it begins.
so, trying to change society or achieve anything at all is an almost impossible task when using facebook (we should never forgot that facebook is at its very core a tool by those in power, for those in power, through those in power).
i would say facebook is constructed in such way that it really can destroy every form of traditional radicalism.
but there is also another thing. idealism. ideals are by definition not corruptible, destroyable, subvertible to something negative. by spreading ideals, facebook can do nothing to stop them or change them or take their radicalism. because no force in the world could do that.
so this is the one little backdoor facebook could not be without, that can be used for spreading anarchism and social defiance. by following ideals.
No comments:
Post a Comment