Is Social Software Bad for the Dean Campaign?
Shirky comes up with an excellent column that crystalized some thoughts that have been swirling around in my head recently.
The Dean campaign has brilliantly conveyed a message to its supporters, particularly its young ones, that their energy and enthusiasm can change the world. Some of this was by design, but much of it was a function of people looking for something, finding it in Dean, and then using tools like MeetUp and weblogs to organize themselves. The story of the bottom-up and edge-in style adopted by Deans staff has been told a thousand times, and its a good one.A new meaning to the phrase "opiate of the masses". . .But what if this style has also created a sense of entitlement or even inevitability about the change, and a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that comes from participation in the effort, but hasnt created a sense of urgency or threat? What if Dean supporters believe that believing is enough, and what if the Dean campaigns brilliant use of tools to gather the like-minded both online and off fed that feeling?
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When I was 19, I remember seeing a bunch of guys in a parking lot in New Jersey absolutely rocking out to Twisted Sister at top volume, Oh were not gonna take it, No, we aint gonna take it, Oh were not gonna take it anymo-o-o-o-ore and I remember thinking the song was using up the energy that would otherwise go into rebellion.Just rocking out to Twisted Sister so hard, and feeling so good about it, made those guys feel like theyd already stood up to The Man, making it less likely that they would actually do so in the real world, when the time came. And Im wondering if the Dean campaign has been singing a version of that song, or, rather, Im wondering if the bottom-up tools theyve been using have been helping their supporters sing that song to each other.
I think that blogs discourage action more than meetups. Clark people down here worked the same way as the Deansters and both sets of people (and the Kucinich folks) have gone on into Democratic party politics. The Kerry people tend to be the kind of people that only show up at the polls, which is obviously most of the voters at present.
Real change will take much longer but the Repugs did it with mass mailings and small meetings over a space of about 20 years. I don't think the internet will shorten that time by much, but it's a lot cheaper than mailings for us po' folks.
I attended a Dean meetup. It was populated by passionate liberals who were genuinely concerned about whether Dean was liberal enough for them, and whether they could work up that passion about someone who is, let's face it, not that liberal. It was interesting to read this first hand anecdote of how the organization works, too. I don't buy the "mobilize the liberal base and we'll win" approach. To see Bush gone, we're going to have to move beyond the crowd that wants anyone-but-Bush.
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