america-wakiewakie:The Virtual Colosseum: Overcoming Social Media’s Dark SideAt its height the
america-wakiewakie:The Virtual Colosseum: Overcoming Social Media’s Dark SideAt its height the Roman Colosseum could hold some 50,000 spectators, truly a feat for its era. Even now, millennia after its prime, in a world of mountainous skyscrapers and sprawling stadiums, it remains a sight to behold. But just beyond its billowing arches and columns rests a nasty reminder of human cruelty: an arena atop a sea of imprisoned, sweat-soaked bodies, cut through with blood-rivers of men killing each other for the sound of applause. This is where, for centuries, Romans held gladiatorial games, deathmatches between competing slaves, so-called criminals, and, at times, ‘exotic’ wild animals. In the arena murder became socially acceptable sport. It became entertainment.Today most might say we have evolved beyond the barbarity of killing for sport. In an acutely literal sense they would be right. Of course there are exceptions: Wealthy westerners still exoticize and kill safari animals, among others. And then there are those instances where the literal cannot apply: First-person-shooter games are market drivers in console gaming; the film industry rakes in billions every year depicting graphic violence; and sports like Mixed Martial Arts mimic the brutality of gladiatorial combat. Combined these trends paint a picture which suggests that while we may no longer cheer on death fights in ancient fashion, at least one relic of the Roman games endures — the applauding crowd.[…]Blueprinting the ColosseumWhen Roman architects designed the Colosseum they did so with the explicit intent of entertaining audiences through competitive spectacle. Social media platforms are not so dissimilar. By treating access to audiences as social currency, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and just about any widely used social media platform, are designed to incubate cultures of competition. Users are required to build access by generating attractive content, engendering a following over time. This creates an economy centered on a simple transaction: content for followers. It also has the effect of generating a false sense of scarcity, and characteristic of any economy based on scarcity, competition between dominant users who strive to preserve and increase their influence is crucial.Some time ago I read an article that illustrated how ideas function similarly to money in a capitalist market. Likewise, in the arena of online activism we often treat the discourses surrounding our oppression how capitalists treat market share, vying to monopolize the discourse with our own lived experiences and intellectual prowess, to solidify our own positions, oftentimes through oppressive tactics. Individuals who can get others to invest in their ideas or lived experiences about a particular discourse obtain greater access to that discourse, wielding greater influence over it as well (the greater the following, the greater the ability to signal boost your own perspectives, or at least perspectives with which you agree). Popular activists can come to dominate online discussions this way.Herein lies another problem. When conversations are dominated by those who have obtained large followings, the creation and enforcement of hierarchy emerges. This hierarchy revolves around not just competition for followers, but for credibility among those followers. Activists with large online audiences are thought to already have established their credibility — especially among the newly politicized — by showcasing their intellect. All too often, however, this showcasing takes the form of shutting down and/or delegitimizing other users’ ideas and lived experiences. To admit one might potentially be wrong, or even inaccurate, is to lose credibility and access to followers (social currency).Preventing this loss of currency can become incredibly vindictive. People start treating each other like ruthless transactions, carcasses to step over rather than human beings actively engaged in dialogue or disagreement. After a while it can feel like survival of the fittest. Sometimes it is. Just as billionaires have enormous resources at their disposal to manipulate the flow of power and preserve market dominance, social currency enables popular web-based activists to maintain dominance over online discourses. So while the visibility social media enables can be a valuable tool for the proliferation of alternative media, marginalized voices, and radical re-education, how that visibility is obtained and maintained can be painfully problematic.Moving forward we have to remember that most social media platforms were designed to replicate online the same culture of competition that dominates our lives offline. Unless all parties involved understand its shortcomings, it rarely will be a good venue for highly sensitive conversations, especially when tens of thousands of users can intentionally or unintentionally derail, misconstrue, misinterpret, falsify, or gaslight conversations.Blueprinting the SpectatorDeconstructing the dark side of online activism and understanding its design still leaves unanswered the question of why we continue to participate. If we witness harassment and unprincipled behavior among online activists, why do we continue to follow along?(Read Full Text) (Graphic Treatment by Ren) -- source link