Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy
YouTube Creator culture and the reach of social media has radically changed the public town square. In 2020, a wide swath of YouTube pundits with little more than a web cam and an internet connection can garner a viewership that rivals traditional mainstream media outlets that spend millions on production. What seems to be an escalation in the culture war and the demise of civic discourse could, in part, be a symptom of big tech’s dominance over the modes of communication and dissemination of information. In this 20 minute presentation, we will explore the terms and conditions in this new public square, and examine how Aristotle’s ancient art of rhetoric can guide citizens back to a meaningful space of nuanced, critical thinking and civility.
Click Bait, Cancel Culture – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires
The whole point of teaching and studying rhetoric is for citizens to be better equipped to participate in the democratic process. The very discipline was created out of the notion of citizen participation, despite the inclination of the early philosophers to think that the general public is too daft to adequately function in a democratic society.
Though it is true that the ancient Greeks did not exist in an entirely free society, Aristotle was the first on record in the West to conceive of a function for civic discourse, a need that arose out of a literal forum where the independent and free citizens of the city state could speak in public and persuade the masses to vote on matters of public import.
There is no need for total consensus in a democratic system; in fact, 100% consensus is contrary to the very ideals of freedom.
If everyone was to agree on every issue, there would be no need to vote on anything, and indeed, it is questionable that even in such an idealistic environment, that every individual would agree 100% of the time with the masses. In such an environment of mandatory consensus, even the independent thinker would feel the immense pressure of speaking out against the group for fear of ostracization, excommunication, or worse, prosecution and if not literal death then social death.
Diversity of thought is a healthy function of civic discourse.
There can be no other way for there would be no need for civic discourse or a theory thereof if we all existed as automatons with the same ideals and conceptions. Lack of discourse, or diversity of thought and opinion, is mental slavery, and it is dangerous, censorious, and against the principles of a free society.
Sensational headlines generated to cultivate the mob mentality, curate profits, and circumvent competition does not make a just society, but quite the opposite. A stifling of open debate and intelligent, measured argumentation creates a fearful society where people may pretend to be on the bandwagon in the public sphere for fear of being ostracized or isolated, but in private they feel the burden of oppression and the tyranny of self-censoring.
When people can be canceled for differing opinions, a toxic environment is created, one of oppression, suppression, and false consensus.
The ancient discipline of Rhetoric can be taught and understood to facilitate open debate and allow free citizens to come to agreements, engage in healthy discourse, and make strides towards a better world.
Articles Referenced
“How the Internet May be Turning us All into Radicals”
Adnan Khan; Maclean’s Online
June 26, 2018
“The internet—and not only the extreme, warped corners of it like 4Chan—is increasingly governed by algorithms that have learned how to push our emotional buttons, creating social media echo chambers that have polarized society to the point where political and social debates have been reduced to mud-slinging and trolling.”
“The Making of a YouTube Radical”
Kevin Roose; New York Times
June 09, 2019
“With two billion monthly active users uploading more than 500 hours of video every minute, YouTube’s traffic is estimated to be the second highest of any website, behind only Google.com. According to the Pew Research Center, 94 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24 use YouTube, a higher percentage than for any other online service.”
“Youth, Social Media and Digital Civic Engagement”
NCSS Position Statement
December 2018
“While attempts to define digital civic engagement are still in a formative stage (Kligler-Vilenchik & Thorson, 2016), National Council for the Social Studies suggests drawing upon youth’s informal personal use of social media and seeking to transfer these experiences into formal civic and academic settings so as to enable students to become civically engaged in digital spaces. The following are reasons to do so, supported with recommendations on ways to aid in that transformation, and with resources to enable us as social studies educators to turn those recommendations into civic realities.”
“Who Controls the Public Sphere in an Era of Algorithms?”
Laura Reed and Danah Boyd
Data & Society
Inside the world of YouTube partisans, Mr. Maza’s feud with Mr. Crowder made him a scapegoat. Some creators blamed him for setting off an “adpocalypse” — a YouTube policy change that resulted in some videos being stripped of their ads. Others wove elaborate conspiracy theories that NBCUniversal, an investor in Vox, was using Mr. Maza to drive viewers and advertisers away from YouTube and toward its own TV platform.
05/13/16
“A growing body of research from media theorists and practitioners examines the ways in which algorithms and data-driven models are increasingly affecting what news and information is produced for, and consumed by, the public. As the relationship between media producers and consumers changes with the expansion of new media technologies, a number of scholars, journalists, and public advocates are asking: Who controls the public sphere in an era of algorithms?”
“A Thorn in YouTube’s Side Digs in Even Deeper”
Kevin Roose; New York Times
02/12/20
“Inside the world of YouTube partisans, Mr. Maza’s feud with Mr. Crowder made him a scapegoat. Some creators blamed him for setting off an “adpocalypse” — a YouTube policy change that resulted in some videos being stripped of their ads. Others wove elaborate conspiracy theories that NBCUniversal, an investor in Vox, was using Mr. Maza to drive viewers and advertisers away from YouTube and toward its own TV platform.”
“How Independent Journalists Are Beating the Mainstream Media”
John Stossel; Reason
05/08/19
“Although Pool made those big-name outlets look like irresponsible amateurs, he doesn’t have a journalism degree. In fact, he didn’t even finish high school. He dropped out of school and just started videotaping what interested him, funding his videos with ads and donations from viewers.
“I want to know why things are happening. Some people don’t trust the media. I don’t know who to believe. Why don’t I just go there and see for myself?”
That’s brought him more than a million internet subscribers.
It’s also made him an advocate for free speech.
“When I was growing up, it was the religious conservatives that had the moral panic about music and swear words. But today the moral panic is coming from the left. Today, the left shows up with torches and burns free speech signs.”
“The Live-Streamers Who are Challenging Traditional Journalism”
Andrew Marantz; The New Yorker
12/04/17
“Every news consumer should be on guard against flimsy arguments or tendentious cuts. We can and should question journalists’ motives. But, if we demand that journalists have no motives at all, we’ll be forced to outsource the job to algorithms and drones, which are—so far, at least—even less thoughtful than humans.”