During the debate that took place last Thursday, my team and I were in charge of arguing for the side of Castells resolution, which stated that social media enables sociopolitical change. I, as well as my partner in crime Angus, took on the role of rebutting the opposing team’s opening statement which argued against Castells resolution. Prior to the debate, my perspective on this matter was in alignment with Castells resolution. Due to this fact that I heavily agreed with Castells point of view, Angus and I approached the challenging task of thinking on the side of opposition and their potential arguments in order to rebut these points more convincingly if touched upon. This role in particular affected and manifested the conclusion of how I approached to side with Castells in the first place, which stabilized and strengthened my stance during the process.
Taking a closer listen on the other group debate on how social media inhibits sociopolitical change, there were definitely some outstanding points made from the side arguing for this matter. A key point that caught my eye was when this group mentioned how Dean says from the sheer amount of different voices and perspectives able to be expressed on social media, the true meaning behind the original intent of a message could be easily lost, manipulated, or pushed aside. These kind of moments during our debate assignment truly made me think outside the box and elaborate more on my beliefs. The debates altogether, both Castells and Dean, impacted how I think about the relation between social media and sociopolitical change in a sense that it prompted my thoughts to expand from just one narrow-minded perspective; however, my stance never altered during the process. The specific difference I found most notable between Castells and Dean’s perspectives were that I found Castells focus on the subject matter be supported more on networks of power and counterpower, most notably through the analysis of the Egyptian Revolution, whereas Dean relied on sources and ideas supported more through political systems themselves, such as capitalism.
Overall, both groups and all sub-groups did a tremendous job in expressing and supporting their viewpoints with the guide of some sources, which led to the success of this debate assignment!