Mocial Sedia

I read “Social Media is Corroding Our Democracy”, an editorial on Washington Monthly’s blog. Chayenne Polimedio wrote it. She writes about integrating “orchestrated chance encounters” and “unchosen experiences” into social media to guide people out of their bubbles. These ideas are pulled from Cass R. Sunstein’s #Republic: Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media. The intended audience would be general: anyone who uses social media. Polimedio lives in D.C. and is currently a research associate in the Political Reform program at New America (think tank/civic enterprise). She has a B.A. in Political Science and Government from Purdue University. The article’s title is more of an attention grabber than a preview of the contents. Polimedio relies heavily on Sunstein’s work. One might mistake the article for a book review. The author is clearly anti-echo chambers. She acknowledges that tackling them would easily infringe upon freedom of speech, though. She is simply adding to an already open discussion on the effects of social media/ tech on democracy. She doesn’t try to answer any questions definitively, but suggests that we at least try to strike a balance. I think Polimedio set an approachable tone, one that wouldn’t invoke defensiveness on either party side. Her job is to bridge differing ideas, promote tolerance, and depend on accurate information. She notes that adding opposing views into people’s newsfeeds or timeline or stream might not change anyone’s behavior. The potential if it did is quite enticing, and probably why she wrote the article: to offer a possible solution to biased/one-sided political views. 

"The Times They Are A Changin'"

Stephen Marche wrote Confederates, Columbus and everyone else: Let's justtear down all the public memorials to 'great' men, an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. Marche writes a monthly column about “our culture” for Esquire, and has authored six books. I’m not sure who the intended audience is, or if there even was one.  This article appears less than two months after the Charlottesville protests, which amplified the debate over the removal of Confederate statues. Marche argues that ALL statues should come down.  He makes other leaps too, relying heavily on iconoclasm.  This article is mainly about how this Columbus Day “will be a confrontation with history.”

Marche quotes/disparages Thomas Carlyle’s reverence for the “Great Men” who’ve made history. Marche claims, “The notion that an individual, any individual, can embody human ideals is null and void.” We don’t know which human ideals he is referring to. We also don’t receive any proof as to why that notion is pointless. According to Human Rights Watch, Obama never genuinely prioritized human rights, so he left office “with many opportunities wasted.” The author thinks this is a perfectly sound reason to invalidate our former president’s other achievements. Only Malala Yousafzai could get away scotch free in Marche’s view, and he isn’t even sure about that. It reminds me of a Talladega Nights: “If you ain’t first, you’re last!”

The point at which I stopped taking the article seriously was when he advised “to take the worst thing a historical figure has ever said or done, establish it as their whole being and then make the destruction of their memory a collective benefit.” What a gigantic deadweight! He gives examples of iconoclasm in action, but not it’s effects or how it could be used to destroy precious history by certain religious groups. It’s like instead of cleaning the baking pan, you just throw the whole thing away and buy a new one. We can’t afford that, realistically. I like imagining a world where none of us are raised above the rest, being ‘accept’ional not exceptional. Though nature can be chaotic, as well as mass populations, politics should encourage steadiness and balance. Stark changes in governance may influence people to go to other extremes. Let us demonstrate caution before proceeding.

But seriously… get rid of Confederate statues, street names, etc.