Blog from Class Discussion on Digital Democracy

Summary of early points in Chapter 6, Digital Democracy. Shelley & Class Comments. See also Shelley's blog and many interesting links.

Question—Can popular culture motivate people to vote? Class responses: Most people get information on-line. Average person—Hillary on the economy? Buzzwords. Soundbites interacting with rhetoric. P-Diddy will never vote again because his vote did not count. Responsible position? A lot of “us” were 18, now 21. They are going to have to follow us. Demographically, you have an income to make a difference. Power. What are you going to do with it? As we are graduating, reflecting on values: family, economics, “our own perception.” Blogs are important in finding one’s own position. Lots of different opinions in one place. Presidential candidates (Edwards) used Myspace and YouTube—more than one opinion. More personal. Example of a Facebook debate. No dodging of the questions—"you didn’t answer the question." (Annoying in other debate formats). Newspapers not addressing “our views.” People simply not using other sources, so using multiple modes is effective.
Are political blogs useful if they only attract participants with one point of view. Useful IF you understand the bias of a particular blog or news source. Newspapers—too much stuff, material, paper!Read all sides—“ignorant” if you don’t know more than one side.

Last section of Chapter 6: Ashley & Class Discussion
Alphaville and Voting Naked.
P. 28. “Here again, popular culture may be preparing the way for a more meaningful public culture; in this case, the most compelling example comes from the world of video games.” (Alphaville) People who don’t participate in the pop cultures that Jenkins is writing about are alienated. What happens when the ways into political life via pop culture are not appealing? Is there anything like McLuhan’s Global Village today? Walter Cronkite in the olden days?
What are the responsibilities of citizenship? How can you be fully informed in this culture? Achievable utopia. Politics like football season on TV or Valentine’s Day. About consumption, consumption. Microwave society.
Voting naked. Vulnerable, exposed. How could we get over this? If educated, confident.

Sean on Fish:
See Sean’s blog entries.
LBB: Good summary of issues in the history of rhetoric.
Belial (fallen angel in Milton’s Paradise Lost)
Plato’s attack on rhetoric
P. 124, 3 oppositions, 2 kinds of language
Chomsky, Habermas
Aristotle's defense, rhetoric’s ethics depend on moral purpose of the rhetor
Cicero’s defense of humanism
Homo seriosus (serious man); homorhetoricus (rhetorical man)
Upswing of rhetorical man (Examples 128-134. Postructuralism.
Roland Barthes: “jouissance"--importance of play, especially in the light of "convergence culture."
Rorty—ending important.