Blog Three
Even historically this can be seen to be the case as the Greeks also used narrative in public speeches to shape opinion and used their words to persuade (Kuttainen, 2015). In modern day, this pastime has also advanced, available for all eyes via the internet. Words every which way, meant to sway us are behind every click of a link. As such it can be said that the internet, and our place in it, has also empowered us. With the ability to say pretty much anything we believe in to such a public forum gives us leave to find likeminded individuals and create our own communities. In turn, the collective voice that these communities present become stronger and creates a sense of empowerment in each member of the group.
The most obvious example of this would be political protestations online through social media such as Facebook and Twitter, from both government and protesters. One such instance was when Ukrainian opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk used Twitter to decline negotiations with the president of Ukraine during a time of civil upheaval to try calm the public (Yatsenyuk, 2014). His use of English enlarged his audience, allowing for more people to be aware of the situation. Which worked as within a few days he received responses from other governments, notably America.
References:
Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002 week 5 lecture slides.
Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the making of place: A narrative-descriptive approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696
Yatsenyuk, A. [Yatsenyuk_AP] (2014, January 25) No deal @ua_yanukovych, we're finishing what we started. The people decide our leaders, not you. #Євромайдан [Tweet]. Retrieved https://twitter.com/Yatsenyuk_AP/status/427179503291342848
Image Reference
Pen with Sword [Image] (2015). Retrieved from http://englishbookgeorgia.com/blogebg/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/the-pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword-300x199.jpg
I agree that the internet does certainly allow us to find a group of likeminded individuals for just about any topic, sites like reddit and tumblr have hundreds of thousands of tiny communities dedicated to unusual topics. When these groups get bigger they can indeed create a sense of belonging and when they community speaks as one it can provide a real feeling of power to the individuals making up the group. I also talked in my blog (briefly) about social media’s political protesting potential but it can also be used for more than just protesting. Every day we’re seeing reports of groups like ISIL using social media to put forth their own narrative and their opponents do the same. Deborah Richards at the abc claims that while Vietnam was the first television war, the violence in Syria has become the first Social Media War (Richards 2014) .
ReplyDeleteReferences
Richards, D. (2014). The Twitter jihad. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-20/isis-using-social-media-to-recruit-fighters-promote-violence/5540474
The internet has definitely allowed us to find communities and fandoms full of concurring persons. I agree that if it wasn’t for words and language one would not be able to justify their opinions or sway someone else’s. However, without words or language, one would not be able to form an opinion to justify in the first place. Language is a fundamental part of what makes us human beings; it has enabled us to create wonders (Tuan, 1991), communicate and express ourselves through speech and literature. The most interesting part of language, I find, is how it is constantly evolving as we develop new words and categorise them. In one language we know have thousands of separate subgenres, for example, words that are specifically related to the internet. It is astonishing how one may understand an intricate explanation of the different artistic techniques used to create a masterpiece painting, yet feel like their reading gibberish when perusing a political discussion. This is where those communities and fandoms start to shine. Social networking platforms such as Tumblr are central places for these communities as they allow anyone to get involved in what they are interested in.
ReplyDeleteTuan, Y. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Gerographers, Vol. 81 (4), 684-696.