We Media: Activism & Democracy

Thanks to Andy Carvin for his detailed blogging of the Activism & Democracy session I moderated this afternoon.  (I'm so braindead right now I'll be lazy and just let you read his account.)
...but WAIT! THERE'S MORE! He also posted a full podcast.

Also check out Andy's post about Craig Newmark's views on trust.

Comments

[Joseph Wang]

I do have some major issues with the notion of activism. The problem with the idea of activism is that it tends to create a somewhat self-absorbed elite that thinks that they are more informed or better than everyone else. I've seen this also tend to crowd out other voices.

For example, let's take Joe Sixpack whose major interest is fly-fishing and who has no interest in politics. The "activist" view tends to look down on Joe Sixpack, saying that he ought to be mobilizing demonstrating instead of watching TV, and also tends to view Joe Sixpack as uninformed. But doesn't that view reduce the diversity of opinions?

[Ruby]

Yeah Joseph, those founding fathers were such hypocrites! We should all let some guys in DC make our decisions for us and not question them so much. Politicians are omniscient and they always have your best interests are heart.