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The influence of social media on politics
The influence of social media on politics
The influence of social media on politics
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Thesis: With the recent emergence of social media into the mainstream, corruption within government functions has never been more manipulative of citizens. This is also clearly linked to the paralleled popularity of abbreviations and emojis when communicating, instead of using traditional English language.
In the case of American politics, no one party or person can maintain (checked and balanced) control of the country for over eight years, so the 1984 concept of the government controlling the way citizens think is honestly ridiculous. What is very much possible, as seen in this past U.S. election, is the misuse of data to psychologically influence prospective voters to not vote because of their probable candidate preference. Facebook
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The root of the problem in actuality, is the willingness of a corporation (Facebook) to knowingly abuse user data to alter their voting preferences with deceptive advertisements. In 1984, Winston believes his country of Oceania is at war with Eurasia, because that is what he is told via his telescreen. Of course later in the book, Winston realizes that Oceania is actually at war with Eastasia and Eurasia constantly. “Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible” (Orwell). This is reminiscent of the feeling of watching a favorite sports team making it to the championship, …show more content…
China has boasted that it can facially recognize one person in a crowd of fifty thousand in seconds (Coca). It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are tracking likes and dislikes (like the government actively does in 1984) but they could if they wanted to. “The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely” (Orwell). They have also implemented a social credit system to determine which citizens are more productive (in 1984 this would decide how useful one is to the party) and penalize those with low scores, and reward those with high scores. In 1984, Winston is considered a hindrance to the party, so he is “corrected” to a mindless, emotionless,
In “1984,” Orwell uses Winston to portray a single individual’s attempt to take action against a powerful government, culminating in his failure and subjugation. His individual efforts failed tremendously due to the overarching power of the Party to control every aspect of social life in Oceania. Orwell uses Winston’s deeply seated hatred of the Party to portray his views on power and social change. Winston’s actions show that even in the direst of situations ...
In Nicholas Carr’s article “How Social Media Is Ruining Politics”, Carr writes about the effects that social media has on politics. In his article, Carr focuses more on the negative effect that social media has when it comes to politics. Some points that he makes about social media include specific examples like the recent presidential campaigns, how other technological advances over the years have effected politics, and the effectiveness that social media has on politics
To start, 1984 is a dystopian novel that is set in Airstrip One and a province of Oceania. They are in an everlasting war with Eurasia and their very own citizens who somehow have their own opinion. This novel is based off the future and the use of new technology. The world of 1984 is being divided into three main class systems: the inner party, the outer party, and the proles. At the top is the most respected class known as “Big Brother” which only makes up two percent of the population. The inner party is the ruler of Oceania who makes policies, decisions and commandments. The outer party is the category which Julia and Winston live in.
The party controls every source of information, and doesn't allow people to keep records of their past, such as photographs and documents. As a result, memories become fuzzy and citizens become perfectly will to swallow anything the Party tells them. The ministry of truth where Winston works destroys old documents so BB can never be wrong. The past is constantly falsified and brought up to date. By controlling the present, the Party is able to manipulate the past. And in controlling the past, the Party can justify all its actions in the present. The party has the power to make it as if Winston never existed, so he was never going to make a difference, because no one would hear of his struggle. The ministry of truth would destroy any evidence of his existence, just as Winston himself did to comrade withers.
In 1984 the people are always watched by telescreens, which plays propaganda for the party and big brother 24/7”The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously” page 3. In North Korea, the citizens can look out a window and see instant propaganda about their infamous leader Kim Jun Un and his relatives. In North Korea, if someone expresses hatred or rebellion towards the government, then they get privileges taken away like being able to eat or be murdered in the cruelest ways possible. These punishments are similar to George Orwell’s interpretation of a controlling government, for example, if someone shows resentment towards the party and Big Brother then they “vanish” and no one knows what happens to them until they turn up in society again as seen on page 75” As often happened, they had vanished for a year or more, so that one did not know if they were dead or alive”. North Korea also takes away individuality by limiting the freedoms of people, by only legalizing 25- 30 types of haircuts and making the people wear certain clothes or uniforms.
Winston is defeated, after betrayal has taken over his life and altered his mind. In the end, the book is almost entirely surrounded by the idea of traitorous people and betrayal of governments. Whether it be from O’Brien, Big Brother, the Party, Julia, or even Winston. The story is based upon the themes and ideas provided within the text. Although it was never intended to be the way it turned out, Winston betrayed nearly everybody.
Death and decay often convey corruption within a story. The use of this particular imagery allows one to make a connection between the natural world and the nature of people. Throughout Hamlet, a play, set in Denmark, which was written in the early seventeenth century by William Shakespeare, there are several instances where one sees decay depicting corruption. Though this play is filled with massive images of decaying nature, it is also filled with images of nature in its beautiful state. Because Hamlet portrays decaying and developing nature, it shows one that it is possible to maintain a sense of self in a world that strives on corruption.
Much of the success in creating the Parties artificial reality and thus controlling the people was due to the Parties ability to control history through a process called revisionism. This work is done by the Ministry of Truth, in the Records section, where Winston is engaged. Daily, people like Winston, destroy old documents and create new ones to cover policy changes. In addition, everything printed before 1960 has been destroyed by the Party. A good example of this is the work Winston has to do in the Minitru one day.
In the First section of 1984 Winston doesn’t openly rebel, he starts a journal in which he writes how he remember the history that has been re-written. This is called thought crime, because it goes against what the party tells you to know. The Thought Police are in charge of arresting people who commit Thought Crime. That is the start of Winston’s rebellion against Big Brother and The Party.
The 1970s was a very controversial time for the American people. In this decade, African Americans, women, Native Americans, gays and lesbians and other minorities continued to fight for equality while other Americans protested for peace and to end the war in Vietnam. People also began to distrust the government during this time with the publishing of the Pentagon papers and the Watergate scandal. With the civilians feeling undermined by the federal government many people decided to stand up and protest for what they believed in. Similar to these protests, in the novel 1984 by George Orwell the protagonist Winston Smith begins his own revolution against his untrustworthy government. During the 1970s, protests and civil rights movements sprang
1984 is a novel that reveals the fear of having a government that completely controls and manipulates everything single aspect of someone's life and their environment. Winston is a character that gains hope that maybe he may be able to change the way the government treats the citizens of Oceania. He gradually begins to become more and more rebellious because the government view Winston as a threat they decide to manipulate him to be like every other brainwashed citizen living in Oceania. Winston loses his battle against the Party which cause his search for justice to collapse. So in the end, a strong totalitarian government can destroy your state of mind from believing something that is truly necessary such as searching for justice to believing that a place that is controlling and manipulative to be the right thing.
In many situations when things are different, some things are the same. Animal Farm, Julius Caesar, and Fahrenheit 451 have totally different environments with similar threads. In each of these books there seems to be underlying themes that connect with each other. With such a wide variance in backgrounds it’s hard to believe that this could be true. In each book dystopia comes from the hope of a utopia. This dystopia comes from corruptions created by power. There is an old saying that says “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Utopia, dystopia, power, and corruption are the most common messages conveyed by the authors of these books.
The researchers present findings that indicate that a politician’s popularity in the voting booth may be related to the frequency with which the candidate is talked about on social media. The researchers goes on to discuss how further research may conclude that social media has a bigger impact on voting outcomes than traditional forms of media, and how that could potentially shape the future of voting.
Over the last few years, the issue of corruption--the abuse of public office for private gain--has attracted renewed interest, both among academics and policymakers. There are a number of reasons why this topic has come under recent inspection. Corruption scandals have toppled governments in both major industrial countries and developing countries. In the transition countries, the shift from command economies to free market economies has created massive opportunities for the appropriation of rents, excessive profits, and has often been accompanied by a change from a well-organized system of corruption to a more chaotic and deleterious one. With the end of the cold war, donor countries have placed less emphasis on political considerations in allocating foreign aid among developing countries and have paid more attention to cases in which aid funds have been misused and have not reached the poor. And slow economic growth has persisted in many countries with malfunctioning institutions. This renewed interest has led to a new flurry of empirical research on the causes and consequences of corruption.
Internet has been acknowledged as one of the most efficient way to collect and reflect public opinions, for that people with different classes and races can express their opinions with no obstacles in virtual network spaces. People can speak out whatever they want just by typing on the keyboard within a second. Dr. Heather Savigny mentions in her article “Public Opinion, Political Communication and the Internet” that “The expansion of the internet as a new method of communication provides a potential challenge to the primacy of the traditional media and political parties as formers of public opinion” (1). People realized that the power of internet public opinion in the focus on social issues can be used as a weapon to affect government decision-makings. However, does public opinion only brings positive effects?