

The Revolution will not be on Youtube - raganwald
http://weblog.raganwald.com/2006/09/revolution-will-not-be-on-youtube.html

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jakevoytko
It's interesting that the opposite happened in the past 5 years. The
Revolution IS on YouTube. It is live-Tweeted, live-blogged, and live-streamed.
It gets information past oppressive regimes, authors past publishers, and
knowledge past editors. The Internet sped up The Revolution, and that's why
Sazorsky wants to slow it down.

It's also interesting that there has been no Revolution. Politics are just as
divisive and ill-informed as ever, and the division is live-Tweeted, live-
blogged, and live-streamed. Disinformation keeps the same politicians in
power, the same industries on life support, and the truth down. The Internet
slowed down the Revolution, and that's why nobody needs to spend time
controlling it.

~~~
samtp
I don't think the internet has had nearly as much influence on everyday events
as we give it. Most tweets, videos, and blogs are for the benefit of people
watching in. The only benefit to people involved in the action is increased
PR. But most of the situations are left untouched by the outside world despite
the PR. And outside help will only come for greater political/business
reasons. Social media is great, but don't let the rhetoric get out of control.

~~~
wahnfrieden
It can even have a detrimental effect, as people who tweet or blog about
something can psychologically feel they've done enough good work, instead of
being compelled to take "real" action.

~~~
wahnfrieden
I also wonder what impact things like voting and retweeting have on that
psychological effect. I can only imagine that this kind of outside validation
only reinforces the idea that what you've done is good and good enough.
Further, what impact does it have to display the vote count to others (both
for the commenter and its readers)?

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raganwald
RIP Gil Scott-Heron, an artist and social hacker.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Scott-Heron>

~~~
borism
indeed

"who'll pay reparations on my code?"

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4CChz4DjQE>

~~~
rubashov
This pretty well captures Gil Scott Heron's attitude toward technologists.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtBy_ppG4hY>

Heron hates white people.

~~~
erikpukinskis
Nothing in that piece suggests to me that he hates white people.

He hates the fact that rich people use their power to get the government to
spend all it's money on "rich people problems", like landing people on the
moon, while letting the poor fend for themselves.

I think technology can be used for good and for masturbation.

~~~
raganwald
I won't say anything about Gil's personal beliefs, but I will note that his
music and poetry often contained a lot of anger.

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SoftwareMaven
Title should have the date (2006). The real question is, did the revolution
happen on YouTube (or Facebook or twitter)? There is some evidence that it has
helped, but, in the end, the revolution can only happen in the streets.

~~~
zalew
a talk with a geek from egypt who built the app making it possible to
communicate with internet shut down
<http://thisdeveloperslife.com/post/1-1-5-revolt>

> the revolution can only happen in the streets.

period

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mooism2
The link to mocrosoft.com was a typo?

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raganwald
Good catch, that was unnoticed in nearly five years!

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mooism2
I didn't realise the post was so old :-\

I take it the video on YouTube hadn't been taken down when you first posted
it?

Edit: Or it had, and that was the point?

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Tichy
I think that is most likely completely wrong. While the kids are raging in the
streets, the real revolution will happen silently on the networks.

Computers are changing the way we live and behave. What could be more
revolutionary?

~~~
raganwald
At the time I wrote that, my thought was that the revolution would happen on
the Internet, but it wouldn't happen on some giant, corporate-owned social
application, but would happen on something smaller and more decentralized.

I was especially thinking of the way companies like Sony surpress information
withDMCA takedowns and lawsuits, rather than actual revolutions. As far as
actual revolutions are concerned, it did take place on Facebook and Youtube.
But also on Twitter!

