Myth?!

To conclude those three chapters, I have a point: that nowadays it is getting easy for people to have a voice in public. The Internet allows people to post messages and images that can be viewed by global audiences at minimal cost. This open public sphere triggers a new form of revolution not only in politics but also in every aspect, like economy, technology and society. The Internet brings a new form of communication. More and more social networking websites are on the Internet, like facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Blog. I think no one feels unfamiliar. Everyone can have his or her own free space to say something. However, the voices are always filtered by a  search engine. There is an egalitarian pattern among the Internet. All the time some voices, “missing middle”, are left out. See, here is a contradiction. It seems to me that top ranking politics blogs are the dominant people’s view although  it seems that every resource is fair to go online.  

 

I think the character of political things is more like the strategy of marketing. At the time that television just hit the world, we argued that if one candidate was more likely to have an open speech to the public he was likely to win the election.(The living room candidate -http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/). We can see the example of 1952 Eisenhower vs Stevenson. Eisenhower had more public speaking events however Stevenson had relatively less public speaking so Eisenhower won finally. We can get an idea that people judge the candidates by the number of times candidates appear in Public. And now, it is time to have controversial discussion about good or bad impact on politics of the Internet.

 

As I said before, I think politics is like marketing. Therefore, I think politicians are like brands. In the campaign, the result depends on how the candidates promote themselves and how audience converts the messages to action. Social networking websites become an incredible helpful hand for candidates to raise money and advertising. I doubt that the social networking websites can target audiences well. However, it does not hurt to hit a huge amount of people on the Internet. Whenever your idea is sent to someone who agrees with your point then he or she will get you support, maybe by sending money or sending clothes. I know that this is a strategy of non-profit organizations because I worked at an internship in a non-profit organization. Besides, more up-to-date information on the social networking websites, like facebook, twitter, is the same idea as more public speaking on TV. However, this time the support is more visible by having more “facebook fans” or “likes” to the posts. I am curious what the number of “facebook fans” means? Will all the “facebook fans” vote for these candidates? Who knows?   

Ring Sum Chiu