the power of followership robert kelley pdf files

His qualm was that the press desituated knowledge from experience by making it readily available even to those that might not have any experience in the topic they were reading about.Įverybody can become a commentator: “The new power of the press to disseminate information to everyone in a nation led its readers to transcend their local, personal involvement and overcome their reticence about what didn’t directly concern them.” 2 This has been taken to a new limit with the Internet, where “anyone, anywhere, anytime, can have an opinion on anything. The printing press and the newspaper had a democratizing effect similar to social media’s that prompted cynical reflections from Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. 1 While social media has been used by activists trying to counter authoritarian regimes and organize peaceful protests, its low barriers to entry have allowed extreme groups to exploit its benefits. Iran’s Green Revolution in 2009 and the Arab Spring in 2011 were two early events, among many others, in which social media platforms-particularly Twitter-were used to circumvent state surveillance, connect and coordinate protests, and share information.

Until recently, commentators and researchers on social media lauded its capacity to equalize the political playing field, giving voice to marginal groups and new actors. Social media has played an increasingly important role in domestic and international politics. Introduction: The Dark Side of “Democratic” Digital Media By outlining its cultural style and ungovernable features, this essay provides policy professionals and researchers with an understanding of contemporary digital hate culture and provides suggestions for future approaches to consider when attempting to counter and disrupt the networks on which it depends. After providing a high-level overview of these networks, this essay explains three formal features of digital hate culture that make it ungovernable: its swarm structure, its exploitation of inconsistencies in web governance between different actors, and its use of coded language to avoid moderation by government or private sector actors. It focuses on the cultural practices and imagination present in the networks of digital hate culture to illuminate how two frames, the Red Pill and white genocide, unify the different groups that take part in these networks. Looking to contemporary networks of digitally mediated extreme right-wing communication, this essay explores the form, dynamics, and potential governance of digital hate culture.

Social media and the Internet play an important role in the proliferation of hateful and extreme speech.

The power of followership robert kelley pdf files