Political activism is not failing because people are too busy watching cat videos online, but because of a fundamental collapse of citizen leverage on institutions of power like governments and corporations.
Zeynep TufekciRead
You might be tempted to think that China has a Streisand-effect problem, in which trying to censor an event creates even more publicity. But that assumes the Chinese government doesn't understand the Streisand effect, and that can't be right, because if one government understands attention dynamics online, it's China's.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the Chinese government's awareness of the unintended consequences of censorship, particularly in the digital age.
Zeynep Tufekci's quote addresses the complex nature of censorship, using the example of the Streisand effect, which describes how attempts to suppress information can lead to greater public interest. It suggests that the Chinese government is not naive about how online attention works, implying that their actions are calculated and strategic rather than misguided attempts at control.
In practice
In a discussion on media control, this quote can illustrate the paradox of censorship.
Political activism is not failing because people are too busy watching cat videos online, but because of a fundamental collapse of citizen leverage on institutions of power like governments and corporations.
Given exponential growth dynamics of infectious diseases, containing an epidemic is straightforward early on, but nearly impossible once a disease spreads among a population.
Remember, the Internet did not create freedom of speech; in theory, we always had freedom of speech - it's just that it often went along with the freedom to be ignored. People had no access to the infrastructure to be heard.
Attention, to a terrorist group, is often what the well-meaning, outraged response is to your two-bit Internet troll: it is the food that feeds them.
Much of what ails our modern life is exactly because we reduce the value of a human being to a number, say salary or consumer power.
A 'fair' fight between non-equals is not fair, and being blind to power is an implicit endorsement of the powerful.
In fact, the best thing we could do on taxes for all Americans is to simplify the individual tax code. This will be a tough job, but members of both parties have expressed an interest in doing this, and I am prepared to join them.
When you've spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like the environment, it's exciting to have a real crisis on your hands.
I'm highly political. I spend an awful lot of time in the U.S. trying to influence decision-makers. But I don't feel in tune with British politics.
Guantanamo is a chief recruiting tool for al-Qaida. It has put a wedge between the United States and at least some of its allies.
It is one of history's ironies that Communism, advertised as a classless society, tended to breed a privileged class of feudal proportions.
"I criticize America because I love her. I want her to stand as a moral example to the world."
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.