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Fury of Response to Op-Ed About Change Off-Line
A look at the responses to Sally's op-ed, "Real Change Happens Off-Line".
On Dailykos, georgia10 writes:
Yes, it is certainly true, our generation has generally avoided protests and sit-ins, the twin hallmarks of traditional activism. But it must also be recognized that unlike activists in the past, we do not have the draft nipping at our heels, a factor that unquestionably led so many in the 1960s to leap into action. In other words, politics decades ago were intensely personal – from civil rights struggles to being drafted - and there is no greater incentive for action than policies which have a direct and palpable effect on the individual. In this sense, although Kohn claims it is our "hyperindividualism" that shackles us, it is the closer connection between politics and the individual in the decades past that prompted youth to take action.
More critically, however, it is a fallacy to urge us to use tools from the 1960s activist toolbox in this digital age.
READ THE REST HERE
And, in response to georgia10, Sally writes:
Without question, internet activism has been a powerful tool in engaging folks around important but ultimately modest reform agendas. It’s a particularly powerful form of protest around egregious actions by the government or private sector. From wire tapping to the "terrorist fist jab", online tools can be used to fire people up and channel their response. But inequality and racial injustice and corporate imperialism and other hallmarks of our modern society require dramatic, structural reforms --- and while the puppet-master powers of the universe might give in to increased financial monitoring in the wake of Enron or increased carbon caps in the wake of Al Gore, let’s be honest: the fundamental built-in inequalities of capitalism and democracy as currently practiced in our country will not be resolved easily. It will require a mass movement of people invested together in an alternative building enough power and influence among each other and with a growing segment of the American public which then shifts everything from who runs for office (radically raising the bar from what we consider a "progressive" candidate today) to themes in Hollywood and mainstream press to standard operating principles of economic theory and business.
I don’t think this will happen on the internet alone.
READ THE REST HERE
Check them out. What do YOU think?
