Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
DrewInWisconsin ·
Sep 10, 2011 at 4:09pm
Random question for a Saturday afternoon (which came to mind after reading George Savage's post):
Which political party or faction has benefited the most from the rise of the internet?
Follow-up: Will this group continue to reap these benefits, are things currently changing, or have we already seen a change in who benefits most.
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Dec '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
That's a really tough question. Undoubtedly the left has used the net very effectively for organizational purposes. However, the net has provided a pathway around the MSM for the conservative message to be heard freely. Sadly, that path leads through a swamp. I'll have to go Black Knight on this and call it a draw.
Edited on Sep 10, 2011 at 1:14pmJul '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
From my readings it would appear the breakout is something like this: There is far more liberal content than conservative, but most of the liberal content is directly copied from the graffiti on high school bathroom stalls.
Dec '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
On second thought...the left wins.
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
I was going to say- look at YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter. The left is winning like Charlie Sheen. By the way, whatever happened to that guy?
We have Ricochet and NRO though! YouTube has video, Reddit has images and links, and Twitter has 140 characters. But we use words.
Dec '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
Ethan Safron
But we use words. · Sep 10 at 2:00pm
And actual thoughts.
Apr '11
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
Since a lie can be twice around the Internet before the Truth has booted up its ISP, obviously the Internet favors the party of lies, the party of progressives, the party of stolen-epithet liberals, the party of Fascism, the party of flies and their Lord: the Democrats.
On the other hand, the Internet lets the Right break the Left's lock on the MSM, so maybe the Right's delta is bigger.
Jun '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
I think an interesting test of "getting around the MSM" will begin "broadcasting" on Monday-- GBTV.com It's Glenn Beck's new network. He no longer has anybody there to overrule his decisions. That could be disastrous, but it'll be interesting in the meantime.
Sep '11
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
I think that, ultimately, the Right will "win." But, I'm not sure that's the right way to look at it. Politically, the left will immediately benefit; the internet provides more direct access to the youth demographic.
That said, I think the social habits and economic practices that will become more entrenched in society are in our favor. Real human progress is always in our favor.
To give examples, internet shopping allows greater tax competition. Just look at how Amazon.com has fought states on taxes. Moreover, the instant gratification provided by the internet is only going to spawn greater frustration with big government bureaucracies. See the video of this event, it talks about that effect and first introduced me to Paul Ryan.
It internet reminds me of my favorite Reagan quote:
Edited on Sep 10, 2011 at 5:02pmSep '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
My impression is that the Tea Party would not have come into existence if it were not for the internet and since it has had the greatest influence on political discourse during the last 3 years I would have to go with the right.
Dec '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
I have all of my family on the 'net, left and right. There is vastly more content directed and promoted towards the left.
It doesn't matter, anymore than it matters how many people enter a demolition derby; some folks have actually watched a demolition derby before and drive a certain way, prepare their cars a certain way, and the others don't.
The internet is a cleansing arena, just like a demolition derby. Nobody ever gets through a derby, driving around in a forward gear and bashing into people. People that watch, drive around backwards in a station wagon, and crush the flashes in the pan.
Don't worry about the internet. It's just a medium. The characters are the same, with just a quicker fuse and the same audiences cheering them on.
It takes more time to find an old station wagon, get somebody to crush the rear end into a ram, then drive around backwards. All that really matters is the crushing of all of the other cars and hearing the lamentation of their women.
Aug '11
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
Thanks for the responses so far. I'm not sure I've settled on my own response yet.
Initially, it seemed that the left was making better use of the internet for organizing and getting their message out. But I have sensed that over the last few years, there has been a change. The internet has proven to be an excellent medium for bypassing the mainstream news media, and is certainly being well-used today by those on the right as a platform for delivering a conservative message.
Perhaps this is merely a function of who is currently in power and who is not, with the faction out of power having to use the internet as a means of organizing and messaging. But why should the left need the internet when they have nearly all of the mainstream media getting their message out? (Granted, my lefty associates believe that the mainstream media is very conservative.)
Aug '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
The answer is simple: whichever party's internal pendulum has swung into populism at the time.
Eventually that party would swing back to elitism and benefit more from political machinery, and the other party gets to pretend it's all about "the people" taking on the political class.
(And heaven help us when the two parties get out of sync and both go on a populist spree.)
In 2008, Obama played populist while McCain and the remaining Beltway Republicans acted elitist. Post-Tea Party, the GOP is more populist while professor-in-chief Obama leads a tone deaf group of elitist Democrats in ignoring popular discontent with Washington.
Edited on Sep 10, 2011 at 6:17pmJul '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
One of the reasons for the insularity of the Tea Party as an opinion bloc is the advent of social sites dedicated to the Tea Party perspective, bypassing the national media channels and drawing on the obscure postings, foreign and local sources, as well as direct reporting. No time to complain about how broken that New York/LA/Chicago junk is, just trade the facts as they are found and keep moving.
No complaints about the NYT or the Daily Kos there because, like all bad news sources should be, they are not relevant.
Jul '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
Republicans, or at least a more conservative viewpoint. How many people have tried to post thoughtful ideas only to be drown out by others posting links to stories at Marxist.com? Anyone without their mind made up has to get tired of all the logical fallacies and outright hate.
Oct '10
Re: Open Question for the Weekend: Which Political Party Benefits Most from the Internet?
The internet serves one important function: It frustrates liars like nothing else does. If not for internet clips of President Obama's, "Lincoln was the founder of the Republican Party" gaffe, he would have gotten away with it with a simple denial - and PBS could have successfully rewritten it.
We can see many examples. It is no longer so easy to put words in someone else's mouth. It was Tina Fey, not Palin, who said, "I can see Russia from my house".
Trouble is those who believe the lies resist discovering the real truth.