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| Can our democracy really be toppled by social media? |
If that is true, and I tend to suspect that it is, it is certainly grounds for impeachment, but how is it a threat to our democracy?
I can see how having Putin control both the Russian Republic and the White House would be a threat to our national security and to the role of the U.S. globally, but how it is a threat to our democracy, per se, is less clear.
The key allegation in the Friedman piece is that "Putin used cyberwarfare to poison American politics, to spread fake news, to help elect a chaos candidate, all in order to weaken our democracy." But, what cyber warfare is he referring to? Is he referring to the hack of John Podesta's Gmail account, which I wrote about previously?
Is he talking about the thousands of dollars the Russians spent on Facebook ads? Facebook ads? Really? Is that how we make decisions about who to vote for in this day and age?
Or maybe, he is referring to the spoof Twitter accounts that caused certain hashtags to trend, drawing attention to them, apparently funded by the Russians.
What is next, Photoshopped pictures uploaded to fake Instagram accounts, that are somehow going to influence our politics?
If Friedman is right that the Russians (and by extension, Trump) are an existential threat to our democracy, then the problem is the moral, intellectual and political weakness of the electorate, not suggestive Russian ploys.
I don't care how many Facebook ads get purchased (I don't use Facebook anyway) or what hashtags are trending on Twitter (which I barely pay any attention to in any event). I care about a candidate's background, education, experience, achievements, and plans for the future.
If Facebook is altering the outcome of the elections as so many think it is, then it is because the U.S. electorate is apathetic, lazy, morally vague and doesn't want to put the work in to find out who is the best candidate. And, an apathetic and lazy electorate is definitely a threat to ANY democracy, one with or without foreign enemies.
1 comment:
You have put your finger directly on the real problem. The Russians undoubtedly did attempt to influence the election but they didn't give birth to Donald Trump. Before The Donald, Americans had lost their ability for critical thinking, doing hard work, and tolerating pain. The Russians saw these weaknesses and tested their arsenal of devious tricks to exploit them. Not to destroy our democracy but to Make Russia Great Again. Trump just became the poster boy for the lazy lot that we Americans had become. We got what we deserved. When Trump's reign of terror is over, democracy will dust itself off and be better for the challenge. Meanwhile, we'll have to work hard to maintain civility, a moral compass and a sense of humor. America will always be better than Russia. The Russians know it. We should take satisfaction in that fact.
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