Is the Internet really good for democracy? BOOK 'The Net Delusion' by Evgeny Morozov

We've been looking at media control and power in A2 lessons and 'The Net Delusion' is a good example of the argument that the new media forms are not going to be as much as a force for freedom as we might hope.  The author argues that the internet is not as close to samizdat as we might have been led to believe.

“Where new media and the Internet truly excel is in suppressing boredom.  Previously, boredom was one of the few truly effective ways to politicize the population denied release values for channeling their discontent, but this is no longer the case.” (p. 80)  He continues on: “Those of us rooting for the further spread of democracy around the globe must stop dreaming and face reality: The Internet has provided so many cheap and easily available entertainment fixes to those living under authoritarianism that is has become considerably harder to get people to care about politics at all.” (p. 81)




Check out the links for reviews and discussion, and there's a video of the author discussing 'How the net aids dictatorships' as well. 

Book website     Excerpts from the book   Review in The Guardian   Review from Behind The Spin

More detailed review and discussion here, with more links included at end

VIDEO The Author talks

Is digital activism an effective medium for change? Malcolm Gladwell 2010


AND as an added bonus, taken from the list in the post below this one, here's ANOTHER TED TALK that seems to be taking the OPPOSING VIEW!  How cool is that?!  (answer: very).

How cellphones, twitter, facebook can make history   a TED Talk by Clay Shirky that demonstrates how emerging social tools “help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors.”