[liberationtech] Cyber-sceptics wanted!

[Collin Anderson]

Right, I would suggest, then, that the comparative section of any local
political science department would be able to provide more than a few people
willing to debate the topic.

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 2:09 PM, Alec Muffett <alec.muffett at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> On 2 Mar 2011, at 18:54, Collin Anderson wrote:
>
> > The difference in the debate isn't necessarily between liberation tech
> and a negative argument. Rather, against a palpable lack of nuance in some
> of the more effusive views often expressed even on this esteemed list.
>
> I'd go further and say that there's a general lack of understanding, let
> alone nuance; for me this is most recently well-expressed in the latest
> (March 1) Foreign Affairs, where there's a rebuttal/counter-rebuttal by
> Gladwell and Shirky, both in regard to Clay's essay from the January 1
> issue.
>
> In essence the exchange boils down to:
>
> MG: Because revolutions did occur in the pre-internet days, ergo the
> internet/web/socialmedia is irrelevant to revolutions. Nyaah!
>
> CS: The internet/web/socialmedia taked the balance-of-power of
> communication and swings it somewhat away from the state; this lends some
> advantage to the citizenry. New battlefield dynamics make life somewhat
> trickier for authoritarianism. Suck it up and deal with it.
>
> There - we've just saved everyone a trip to Oxford and/or the price of a
> magazine.
>
>        -a
>
>
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