“Contradictions”

Check out this: Fillipo Minelli’s “Contradictions” It’s a one trick pony, but wow, what a trick. (should be read in conjunction with Staying Sick’s “Mining” post)

I think this is what I keep trying to get at in my skepticism about the potential of new technologies in building movements.  I think that social networking technology has a place in movement building, but it’s a very narrow one – just like we can look kindly upon the once controversial radical anti-Vietnam War movement, the movements that become visible on the internet typically have a long history, and are amenable to the people able to enjoy the net’s many pleasures: typically living in developed nations, with a certain degree of race or class privilege.

Henry Jenkins gives a particularly good description of the power of new media technology to build new forms of consciousness and thought, but he also points out that the consolidation of decision making and cultural authority in these technologies cements the power of class divisions that keep the majority of the world from accessing them in the first place.

And that’s the real value of the “Contradictions” project – it simply intervenes in the digital cultural economy by reminding it of the world outside of the echo chamber.

Knowing When to Say When

This has got to stop. from nobihaya's flickr.

I’m getting really tired of the media-technology fetish.

I attend an elite university with excessive tuition and a very privileged, talented student body. The people I pal around with have a lot to lose from being arrested, going to jail or getting kicked out of school. I think this is why folks at NYU so often default to talking about media and public image when thinking about social change. Media studies, public relations are the totally abstract, disembodied struggles, they require no sacrifice, and little to no personal risk in the service of a cause.

It’s also the reason I see NYU students pouring so much of their time into thinking about how media determines the ways-of-the-world. I also think it’s why NYU has so many technology-fetishists. Seriously: I’m really tired of hearing about how technology will foster democracy or converge our cultures – Jeff Jarvis has some good ideas, but has gotten to the point of outright deifying Google.

Ultimately I don’t think anyone has given a comprehensive or effective description of why corporations, governments, etc. have to care about their public image as such. Thinking about creating real power means getting into the specifics of that power, which probably also includes getting in the way of things.