Blog post 1: The Single Story
So far, the most influential thing for me in this class has been Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's TED talk on the single story. This first blog post will be both an exploration of the single story within our own culture, and will provide an argument that the world is culturally flat (contrary to Pankaj Ghemawat's view in E&Z, Ch 2 reading 3). I will specifically focus on an example I brought up in class after the talk: the massive online communities that are beginning to have a pervasive influence on global culture.
When I think of the central hubs of online discussion, I think of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and 4chan. Facebook and Twitter are popular for everybody; they serve as the central links of the hubs. Reddit, Tumblr, and 4chan are each culturally distinct. For the purposes of this discussion, I will brand Tumblr as the home of the far-left of the political spectrum, Reddit as the intermediate home of 20-something moderate left intellectual males, and 4chan as the home of the alt-right and flagship Trump bannermen. I am focusing on these communities because they are truly global: the same Reddit discussion thread could have somebody from Australia, from Ireland, and from Russia contributing equally to the conversation. Tumblr blogs have no borders. People from 4chan post anonymously, and in multiple languages. When Pankaj Ghemewat argued that the world is not flat in our reading, these communities were the first thing I thought of: the discussions on them are nearly completely unrestrained by national boundaries. The link on the right illustrates this perfectly: an april 1st event on Reddit had the community create art on a single massive canvas together. The flags just in the video description capture the diversity of countries that were involved.
Each of these online communities have a distinct collection of single stories that get reverberated throughout the community. These single stories sum to create the culture of that community. When the news of the Vegas massacre hit the country, the reverberations of the single stories about gun control within each community began to appear.
On Tumblr, the single story was racism and patriarchal white oppression. There were thousands of blog posts about the way the media was portraying the terrorist as a white lone wolf, and contrasting this portrayal with what would have happened had the shooter been black or Muslim.
On Reddit, the single story was about who the media focused on. There was a huge discussion thread about how the victims should have been covered, and the shooter left unnamed.
On 4chan, the single story was about how the left-wing media was trying to control the news surrounding the shooter.
Each of these single stories in online communities are generated and maintained by a diverse group of people in many countries worldwide. They orient the focus of the community members who maintain them, and they serve to increase the political polarization sprouting up worldwide.
Although it is true that most people still maintain express friendships with people in their local areas, I firmly believe that the world is, if not completely flat, far more flat than it used to be - and that flatness is in large part being created culturally by the single stories pervasive in online communities worldwide.
When I think of the central hubs of online discussion, I think of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and 4chan. Facebook and Twitter are popular for everybody; they serve as the central links of the hubs. Reddit, Tumblr, and 4chan are each culturally distinct. For the purposes of this discussion, I will brand Tumblr as the home of the far-left of the political spectrum, Reddit as the intermediate home of 20-something moderate left intellectual males, and 4chan as the home of the alt-right and flagship Trump bannermen. I am focusing on these communities because they are truly global: the same Reddit discussion thread could have somebody from Australia, from Ireland, and from Russia contributing equally to the conversation. Tumblr blogs have no borders. People from 4chan post anonymously, and in multiple languages. When Pankaj Ghemewat argued that the world is not flat in our reading, these communities were the first thing I thought of: the discussions on them are nearly completely unrestrained by national boundaries. The link on the right illustrates this perfectly: an april 1st event on Reddit had the community create art on a single massive canvas together. The flags just in the video description capture the diversity of countries that were involved.
Each of these online communities have a distinct collection of single stories that get reverberated throughout the community. These single stories sum to create the culture of that community. When the news of the Vegas massacre hit the country, the reverberations of the single stories about gun control within each community began to appear.
On Tumblr, the single story was racism and patriarchal white oppression. There were thousands of blog posts about the way the media was portraying the terrorist as a white lone wolf, and contrasting this portrayal with what would have happened had the shooter been black or Muslim.
On Reddit, the single story was about who the media focused on. There was a huge discussion thread about how the victims should have been covered, and the shooter left unnamed.
On 4chan, the single story was about how the left-wing media was trying to control the news surrounding the shooter.
Each of these single stories in online communities are generated and maintained by a diverse group of people in many countries worldwide. They orient the focus of the community members who maintain them, and they serve to increase the political polarization sprouting up worldwide.
Although it is true that most people still maintain express friendships with people in their local areas, I firmly believe that the world is, if not completely flat, far more flat than it used to be - and that flatness is in large part being created culturally by the single stories pervasive in online communities worldwide.
Dear Alex,
ReplyDeleteChimamanda Ngozie Adichie's TED talk definitely resonated with me also. I hadn't thought about Reddit being the intermediate between the two political parties. Being an avid Reddit user, I feel it is an extremely democratic media platform that boasts many anti-Trump stories. This could be because of what i have chosen to follow and see on my feed everyday, which only perpetuates that "single story" notion that Ms. Adichie talked about. Your points, however, about how each of these media platforms portrayed the Vegas massacre seems to be correct as I witnessed this trend also. Overall, very well put together blog! I enjoyed reading it.
I really liked the example you used of the recent shooting in Vegas, and how different social media cultures responded in their own way. I noticed the same thing via my various social media feeds. But to your point, these single stories are oft the ones that are perpetuated, giving us the idea that this is the case 100% of the time. The embedded video in your blog was a great touch, too. Very interesting and well-written blog!
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