Being part of the assessing team for Manuel Castell’s chapter The Egyptian Revolution on the argument, “Be it resolved that social media enables sociopolitical change” was a new and interesting experience. I found both sides of the argument interesting to listen to. Both sides brought forth examples that were very compelling to their side of the argument, introducing a new perspective. For instance, I found that the rebutting team brought forth a compelling point when they addressed the usage of technology in the Egyptian Revolution. They brought up that the blockage of the internet and the economic damage it caused may have prompted America to become involved in the situation as opposed to the social media presence. This was a point that my group hadn’t come up with beforehand and found it very interesting to hear. In addition, being in the assessing group was interesting because it gave us a chance to come with points of argument for both sides.
On the other hand, being a spectator in the debate on Jodi Dean’s chapter, Technology: The Promises of Communicative Capitalism was also intriguing. It provided a different perspective on social media and sociopolitical change. For instance, it was brought up that the usage of phones and social media limit the usage of mainstream media from spreading fake news, as the accounts from social media are usually without a filter. I hadn’t previously thought about how accounts from social media usually have real reactions, images, and video without a filter or being controlled by another force, such as the government in Egypt and the media reports during the revolution. Another interesting point that was brought up was that for as many experts on social media, there are also people who are not and the difficulty in telling who is and is not also lead to the spread of misinformation.
Listening to both arguments: “Be it that social media inhibits sociopolitical change” and “Be it resolved that social media enables sociopolitical change” were interesting to hear. Each argument had compelling points that were fun to listen and assess to. I feel that being in the position of assessing allowed for a broader mindset in order to come up with arguments for either side. Since Castell’s article was more focused on how social media enables sociopolitical change, which posed quite a challenge for the rebutting side, I found their arguments they came up with interesting since there wasn’t much to work with. Overall, I think that the debate provided new perspectives on social media and its relationship with sociopolitical change.