We claim to live in a democratic society and yet ironically lament our limited opportunities to voice our discontent about issues that concern and affect us. The importance and effectiveness of the MSM is declining drastically and we can see that increasingly, if we intend to make any difference at all to effect change in our country, online oppositional power is now heavily dependent on a new type of activism-bloggers.
Current trends show that many write about a broad range of public issues to express their dissent. Whenever major events or crises occur such as in the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, readers can invariably turn to blogs and online news portals for the latest information and more importantly, critical commentaries which are virtually absent in MSM.
Fully aware of the expectations of their audience, activist-bloggers have to keep abreast with their critical comments and observations. Blogosphere culture requires bloggers to write for their audience with specific objectives in mind. Online activism hardly happens out of the blue, but has found a social basis, especially in Malaysia, because of the structural flaws in society. Furthermore, online activism has succeeded in sustaining its power because it fills the void that has been created by the failure of mass media to play its role in society.
After blogging for 17 months, I realize that in democratic societies, despite whatever rights we may pretend we have, many people do not have an opinion about major issues such as the "non-attitudes" problem - as addressed in my earlier posts on political ambivalence. Judging from the messages in both mainstream and online websites, the different styles of framing of questions can solicit and mould public opinion.
Such a situation certainly raises questions about the ability and competence of ordinary citizens to play the expected roles in a democratic society. Recently, if not for Tweeter and global cable networks, protests in Iran would not have become so widely known and influential. In the same vein, online protests about the “Green Dam” software in China gained momentum when even some official media stories questioned the policy. All this goes to show that we cannot underestimate the pervasive power of the Internet.
Conversely, we can also argue that the constant updates of news feeds from tweets, blogs and facebook have fuelled news reporting in online mass media. The fact is, web power has become an integral part of mainstream media power. From my observations, it appears that the “old” and “new” media are converging and, whether we like it or not, the variety of media channels has vital connections, each of which enhances and strengthens the links in the chain.
From my observation and experience, internet activists depend on two factors that exist in a symbiotic relationship - size and rhetoric. When we want to gain attention from the masses, we gather in large crowds for demonstrations. Well, we don't really have to do so as much as in the past now because through the internet, if one can generate large volumes of traffic, one would be able to wield and to show web power such as seen in Malaysia Today, Malaysiakini and the more popular socio-political blogs! For instance, during election campaigns, we see candidates trying their best to attract and to sway crowds in ceramahs (gatherings). Similarly, when a blogger like me rants passionately in cyberspace, we can engage readers and expand participation via comments or forums and in this simple but effective way, raise awareness and mobilize people power in the right direction. And that is exactly what I am trying to do in my blog.
Some of you might feel that this post is a tad academic. Well, in a way it is because I am hitting the books again soon and have been reading a lot for my research proposal and allowing my brain to go into overdrive but that is because I want to attain my dream before I die :-). Whatever the case, for the moment, this is my calling - to be part of cyberspace and to spread the message about the power of the web, people power, and how more than ever in this Internet age, web power is indeed people power - exactly what we need for the much needed change in this country. I seek your comments and hope to engage you in lively discussions via the comments section and hope that you, dear reader, will accept my humble offerings and share with me your input as I open a window into my thoughts with you via this space.
