Socialism

[zocheret]

I'm struggling with Enzenberger's article not because I don't understand his breakdown of media, but because I'm baffled by the idea that a socialist use of media is required. Why socialism? Why did I sit here and read a little less than twenty pages outlining how socialism can make use of the new media to transform society

Comments

[martin_doc]

Why did I sit here and read a little less than twenty pages outlining how socialism can make use of the new media to transform society?

I think, perhaps, a bit of re-calibration is in order as to the purpose of reading such a piece in the context of this class. This isn't a class on socialism, but on New Media. So think less about Mr. E's political agenda, and more about what he's saying about the potential and effect of New Media. Mr. E has lots to say about socialism and Marxism and capitalism, but his piece is in the New Media Reader because of what he has to say about New Media. So, yes, power to transform and all that, but what are the *particulars* of that transformative power?

MKF

[jamiebussey86]

As I read Mr.E's piece I actually focused less on his socialist versus capital rants in terms of politics. What I think was the point of the reading in context to the class is the idea of changing communication and who controls it. I think perhaps sometimes when one sees socialist they automatically go to the socialist examples that have and exist today (i.e. Soviet Union or China), and I think sometimes because of things like the Cold War we have a negative view of the system. But what I think what Enzensberger is saying is that New Media can allow both the consumer and producer to communicate and have control. He ties this to socialism because the idea behind socialism is to make everyone equal. His critique on capitalism is that it creates a hierarchy, which he does not like (again he doesn't think one person should have control over the new media). Also I think it is important to note that the new media has transformed society. How much things are fixed, well I think I'd have to give that more thought.

[zocheret]

I'm not sure if you're suggesting I automatically dislike socialism because of the examples of China and the USSR--which are/were examples of communism, not socialism--but what I automatically dislike about socialism, and about Mr E's point about socialist uses of the new media, is the insistence that everything, everyone is equal. Hierarchy is natural. There's hierarchy in the new media, inherent in it. We discussed this on the first day. Some sites on the internet are more reliable and, in practical terms, better than others. The stuff on MySpace supporting Obama isn't equal to a well-established, recognised political blog doing the same. Is it because of the control of The Man? No, it's because certain sites, certain users, are more reliable, more well-researched, simply better. Just because everyone can communicate with the new media doesn't mean everyone should, and even still, that all of those communications are equally worthwhile