Provacateuri[ism]: Raise a hateful flag in the new media sphere, see who salutes it, and keep it waving whilst going after the saluters through traditional means.
This video suggests that the U.S. federal government is currently engaging in propaganda strategies advocated by Cass Sunstein, as covered in previous editions of the Dirt. Yet the Dirt is a fairly liberal/libertarian blog that advocates suspicion of institutions rather than hatred of individuals. It seems the FBI provocateurism method was designed to disrupt hate speech against individuals.
I'm on the fence on this one. Hate speech and discrimination of any sort is unsavory, yet stifling of opinion formation and expression by using methods based on known cognitive processes (i.e. Spiral of Silence and similar theories) seems pretty low too. Perhaps it all boils down to this: what are we willing to tolerate from our fellow citizens and what are we willing to tolerate from our government. Answer those questions and win a prize. Until then, I defer to the old cliche of "don't let the naysayers stop you" or something like that.
I might add that the Dirt survived for years based on capitalist principles, which eventually killed it when better market opportunities came along. But think about this: the ideas, principles of free speech, and the community survived even though the "disturbing new banner ads," free pics, and links to The Farthammer disappeared into the past. Clearly some things transcend capitalist culture; suspicion of institutions is one of those things. Neither hate speech nor propaganda can stifle suspicion.
Provacateuri[ism]: Raise a hateful flag in the new media sphere, see who salutes it, and keep it waving whilst going after the saluters through traditional means.
ReplyDeleteThis video suggests that the U.S. federal government is currently engaging in propaganda strategies advocated by Cass Sunstein, as covered in previous editions of the Dirt. Yet the Dirt is a fairly liberal/libertarian blog that advocates suspicion of institutions rather than hatred of individuals. It seems the FBI provocateurism method was designed to disrupt hate speech against individuals.
I'm on the fence on this one. Hate speech and discrimination of any sort is unsavory, yet stifling of opinion formation and expression by using methods based on known cognitive processes (i.e. Spiral of Silence and similar theories) seems pretty low too. Perhaps it all boils down to this: what are we willing to tolerate from our fellow citizens and what are we willing to tolerate from our government. Answer those questions and win a prize. Until then, I defer to the old cliche of "don't let the naysayers stop you" or something like that.
I might add that the Dirt survived for years based on capitalist principles, which eventually killed it when better market opportunities came along. But think about this: the ideas, principles of free speech, and the community survived even though the "disturbing new banner ads," free pics, and links to The Farthammer disappeared into the past. Clearly some things transcend capitalist culture; suspicion of institutions is one of those things. Neither hate speech nor propaganda can stifle suspicion.
ReplyDelete