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Analysis Of Why The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted By Malcolm Gladwell

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The Revolution Has Been Tweeted Ever since its birth, social media has been a phenomenon that has changed the way people interact with one another. This change has not only altered interaction among people but it also created a new way for people organize events such as protests and/ or any other social gathering. In contrast to the traditional way protests were organized, today, many events are regulated and promoted via social media which makes it much easier for people to participate. Many writers have commented on how this change has affected activism. One writer in particular, Malcolm Gladwell, is clearly anti social media in terms of its ability to effectively advance social change. In his essay "Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted", …show more content…

Gladwell wrote that “Facebook activism success … by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make real sacrifice” (408-409). Gladwell is contrasting how during the civil rights movement protesters were motivated and deeply rooted in their social injustices to the point that they physically protested. In contrast to the civil rights protesters, today, people are using social media to perform and or start a movement. Even though Gladwell believes that social media has transformed protesting into a lazy practice, today people have used social media as a tool to make real sacrifices. For instance, the “Justice or Else” 20th Million Man March Anniversary protest was organized and promoted via social media. People from all over the country came to Washington, D.C. to protest against all of the recent police brutality on Blacks. Gladwell continued his argument by stating that “it (social media) makes it easier for activists to express themselves, and harder for that expression to have any impact” (p. 414). In contrast to this premise, activists have used large platforms such as newspapers to reach a huge audience just as activists of today use social media to reach their audience. This revolutionary mass source has enabled activists of today to reach larger audiences than their past counterparts have …show more content…

The trials and tribulations of the past are similar to the obstacles that oppressed people face today. Despite this commonality, the means of social change have been greatly altered into a technology based process. In the past people would organize protests via newspapers, flyers and or word of mouth. Protests in the past consisted of people who were connected to the protest organizers (Gladwell p. 405). Today protest are made up of people from all over the nation who gather together and join forces to fight social injustices of the world. There have been several successful acts of activism that occurred solely due to the tools that social media has given activists. Gladwell is against social media and devalues its relevance in today's strive for social justice. He states that we have "forgotten what activism is" (Gladwell p.404). In his work "Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted", Malcolm Gladwell claimed that due to social media's lack of hierarchical structure and inadequate ability to create secure human connections, social media disables real activism. But real activism is making your voice heard on a particular issue and being involved. There is no way he can define being involved with a particular

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