Mark Zuckerberg should disrupt politics, not copy it
Entrepreneurship might be the new politics, but it’s old-school politics
On April 29th an Ohio family says they learned just 20 minutes before dinner this week that a planned mystery guest would be Facebook founder and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. The Vindicator of Youngstown reports Zuckerberg dined Friday with the Moore family in Newton Falls, about 55 miles southeast of Cleveland. The newspaper reports Zuckerberg had asked his staff to find Democrats who voted for President Donald Trump.
But then, my friend Antonio Casilli showed me this picture of Valérie Giscard d’Estaing, the former French President from 1974 to 1981.
As you can see, except for the suit and the tie, the ressemblance is staggering. Valery Giscard d’Estaing loved this kind of staged family visits. He understood how it was the perfect vehicle for television politics, something absolutely new and refreshing in France at this time.
To get a taste of it, go enjoy this video archive of a similar dinner in 1975 after his election.
This has all been part of the new 2017 goal of Mark Zuckerberg to visit all US states within the year. Many people have commented that this looked like a political venture, and a potential bid to become President Of The United States in the future. Given the recent election of Emmanuel Macron, a former banker only aged 39 years old, why not?
But then, should Mark Zuckerberg really copy the recipes of old school politicians and do TV politics?
Or is it a sign that we’re going back to the political equilibriums of the 60’s and the 70’s when a few rich industrialists were in charge for a few oligipolies in Telecoms, Oil, Agriculture, etc. There is nothing new with rich entrepreneurs trying to enter the politics to share their paternalistic vision and to consolidate their power.
Their is also nothing new with newcomers taking the time to know their constituents by visiting the country and posing as being normal and being interested in normal things.
There is also nothing wrong with that. It’s one of the few ways to achieve the cursus honorum of a modern politician. It’s not worse, nor better than running for election at 35 after having been the assistant of a politician for 15 years.
But what I would like to see is how Mark Zuckerberg wishes to address the issues of modern society, to discuss background and propose disruptive ideas.
Instead of replicating political strategies that were designed for family television of the 70’s, he should write and speak about such topics as the rise of digital labor, the insecure geopolitical context, the lack of faith in our democracies, the need for better healthcare and social safety, etc.
As he reads a lot and has great advisors, I am certain he’s got a lot to share on these topics.
Mark Zuckerberg should be more careful about the way he wants to disrupt politics or he will end up playing the accordion:
