During the debate that occurred this past Thursday, I was in the position of delivering the closing statement for the resolution that “social media enables sociopolitical change.” I feel like this resolution was easy to argument ‘for’ versus against, and as the one giving the closing statement I mainly focused in on what I believed to be the strongest arguments that were not only highlighted by the Castells reading on the Egyptian Revolution but also the ones that my group was able to come up with on our own that we felt supported our argument the best. The most important part of the closing statement was asserting absolutely that we were correct, which influenced the arguments I presented as our ‘strongest’.
Castells perspective seemed to lean more towards the idea that social media has a way of influencing or enabling change, while Dean’s seemed — from what I heard during the debates — to provide more perspective to the contrary, believing that social media inhibits or is simply ineffective in truly enabling change in part because of the subjectivity and tendency to take things at face-value. It was interesting to hear what arguments were brought up however, as many were not ones that I would have immediately thought of (i.e. linking it to global dynamics in relation to economic gain) that enhanced the complexity of the debate. That is something appealing about debates — getting to hear different perspectives on the same issue and develop your own stance on it. Even if you are arguing a position you do not identify with, you are thrust into a perspective you wouldn’t necessarily think about generally.
Overall, I don’t really think that my stance on this issue has changed much, though I definitely see the validity and truth in some of the arguments presented by those for the resolution that social media inhibits change. I do believe that in this day and age, with media and the Internet being such a large aspect of our culture, social media provides a kick start to sociopolitical change (though that is not to say that it is solely responsible for it) because of many of the points we had brought up in our own debate. However, I understand the primary criticism that social media also has a way of inhibiting this change because of the fact that these platforms are often built upon ‘feeds’ that enable us to remain within a certain sphere preventing many from actual change. As well that online activism does not always translate to real life action. I still support, overall, Castells’ resolution, but I do think that it is important to be aware of the truth in Dean’s as well.