Social Media is for Idiots
I saw it on the Internet so it must be true! #totes
My instinctive reaction to a sweeping statement — a somewhat ironic one considering I immediately start scanning Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in search of proof. My on-line preference is Facebook — a child of the seventies you see — and I’m soon submerged in images of cute kittens, questionable Covid calamities and American electoral ‘engineering’, with all thoughts of academic research long gone. I am, after all, only a second year creative and professional writing student, who likes the odd pink gin and a glass of wine. And becomes easily distracted.
Immersed in fake news, an epiphany hits me and I realise that I am one of the ‘idiots’ I’m researching — along with the rest of the global ‘on-line’ audience. Desperately I attempt to justify my ‘idiotic’ behaviour with a thoroughly researched academic argument:
“Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community … but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It’s the invasion of the idiots” — Umberto Eco (goodreads.com, 2020)
Harsh. But true.
How many times have we all said something a little bit uneducated after a couple of drinks? How many times have we all sent a dubious tweet in a fit of alcohol induced rage? It’s not just me is it?
I put down my wine quickly and click on a kitten pic. Boom! More fake news!
Staring back at me is propaganda at its most idiotic and blatant.
Staring back at me is Donald Trump.
How much more proof do I need!?
Having labelled myself an idiot (shocking I know), it would seem appropriate to clarify your understanding of the terms ‘social media’, ‘idiot’ and ‘propaganda’. For those of you already familiar with these (see the fake news/Trump revelation above), I extend my apologies — please feel free to move on immediately. But for the ‘remainers’ (not the Brexit kind — that’s a whole other article waiting to be written) the following definitions are provided curtesy of the Cambridge Dictionary (on-line):
Social Media: Websites and computer programs that allow people to communicate and share information on the internet using computers or mobile phones. (Facebook)
Idiot: A stupid person or someone who is behaving in a stupid way. (Me)
Propaganda: Information, ideas, opinions or images, often only giving one part of an argument, that are broadcast, published, or in some other way spread with the intention of influencing people’s opinion. (Alcohol is good for the skin, or a skinful)
Now we’re all clear, let’s take a look at the man himself, the enigma that is Donald Trump, the egotistical, narcissist who helpfully tweeted in 2013:
“Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault”. (Twitter, 2013)
We are truly blessed.
‘Monkeys with Typewriters’ (Thomas, 2016) springs to mind, though it appears evolution has provided a ‘Buffoon with Twitter’ instead (Please note: any similarity to (hopefully) a soon-to-to be former American president is entirely coincidental).
And though the man may be an idiot (allegedly), his marketing team are definitely not.
Trump’s 2016 presidential victory was a mastermind manipulation of social media. Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2016 digital media director, confirms that “All the crazy Facebook stuff was my idea” (New Yorker, 2020), “…I understood early that Facebook was how Donald Trump was going to win”.
Drill down into Trump’s electoral campaign and you’ll find it’s not so idiotic, more a carefully orchestrated marketing campaign designed to influence the susceptible minds of the masses. Decidedly shady, debatably immoral but just about legal, as can be seen from records obtained by the ‘New Yorker’ which indicate intentional underhandedness:
“Trump tweeted an image, originally circulated on anti-Semitic message boards, of Hillary Clinton’s face, a Jewish star, and a pile of cash” and “one of Parscale’s staffers made an ad featuring audio of Hillary Clinton referring to African-Americans as “superpredators” (the intention was to microtarget the ad to black Facebook users in swing states)” (New-Yorker, 2020).
As at July 2020 there were over 2.6 Billion active users on Facebook alone, making it the most popular social media platform in 2020. (Statista.com, 2020). With a world population of nearly 8 Billion people (Worldometers.info, 2020), this equates to one third of the entire world population.
How’s that for a massive propaganda platform for idiots to spread ‘fake news’?
But what actually is fake news? Maybe there’s an example above, or below. Maybe you can spot it.
“Fake news is news or stories on the internet that are not true” (bbc.co.uk, 2020), either intentionally misleading or inaccurate in reporting, which is bad news for “older people and people with lower levels of education” who apparently “find it harder to discern factual statements from opinion”. (Fullfact.org, 2020)
Definitely sounds like the internet to me.
And another strike for the ‘social media is for idiots’ argument.
Propaganda itself is ‘not new and modern’ (American Historical Association, 2020), but social media is. The ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ posters from the dark days of World War Two have long gone, replaced by the ‘Starve a Kid, Save a Quid’ tweets of these political days of Covid.
#News Flash!
“Pope endorses Trump as presidential candidate” (itv.com, 2019).
I read it on the internet so it must be true.
Don’t be fooled by the idea that propaganda is ‘obvious’, it is far too clever for that. It is cunning and manipulative, too subtle for our blinkered eyes and idiotic brains. We have no concept of:
a. Confirmation bias. We favour things that fall in line with our own preconceptions and beliefs
b. Lack of credibility evaluation. We engage with the news to inform ourselves. As we do not have first-hand experience, we trust in the sources we do believe to either have that, or have substantiated information about it, so that we do not have to substantiate it ourselves.
c. Attention and impatience. We are not interested in things that do not appeal to us and expect the things that do to provide us with quick answers. (Psychology Today, 2019)
#Lazy #Confused #Am I bothered?
But given that I’m writing, and you’re reading, an article that debates whether ‘social media is for idiots’, we should probably consider why we think it is — or isn’t. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt feels that social networks provide a platform for misinterpretation and act as “amplifiers for idiots and crazy people” (Bloomberg.com, 2020).
What do you think?
Personally I think that there have always been platforms for people to preach from, and there always will be. From soap boxes on Hyde Park Corner (Royalparks.org, 2020), through the posters , pamphlets and films of World War Two, to our current preferred platform of social media. And if platforms are for idiots, then I really am one, addicted as I am to kitty pics on Facebook, stalking my nemesis on Instagram and stoking my aspirational fires on Twitter and LinkedIn.
So as I reach for my wine, click back on Facebook and start scrolling for those kitties, I say ‘Keep calm and Carry on’, ‘Stoke the Home Fires’ and ‘It’s Not Over Till the Fat Lady Sings’ — as hopefully he will very soon. Then perhaps they’ll be one less idiot on social media for us to worry about.
#Until the next one.
Reference List
American Historical Association. 2020. The Story of Propaganda [online] Available at: https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-2-what-is-propaganda-(1944)/the-story-of-propaganda [Accessed 04/11/20]
BBC. 2019. Fake News: What is it? And How to spot it. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38906931 [Accessed 05/11/20]
BBC. 2020. Holy Wars [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/war/religious/holywar.shtml [Accessed 04/11/20]
BBC. 2016. The Psychological Tricks Used to Help Win World War Two [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20161021-the-psychological-tricks-used-to-help-win-world-war-two [Accessed 27/10/20]
Bloomberg. 2020. Former Google CEO Calls Social Networks ‘Amplifiers for Idiots’ [online] Available at: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-21/former-google-ceo-calls-social-networks-amplifiers-for-idiots [Accessed 27/10/20]
Cambridge Dictionary. 2020. Social Media [online] Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/social-media [Accessed 27/10/20]
Cambridge Dictionary. 2020. Idiot [online] Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/idiot [Accessed 27/10/20]
Cambridge Dictionary. 2020. Propaganda [online] Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/propaganda [Accessed 27/10/20]
Goodreads. 2020. Umberto Eco > Quotes > Quotable Quotes [online] Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9870044-social-media-gives-legions-of-idiots-the-right-to-speak [Accessed 27/10/20]
ITV. 2019. What is Fake News, What are the Worst Examples and Why Does it Matter? [online] Available at: https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-18/fake-news-examples-pope-trump-pizzagate-clinton [Accessed 05/11/20]
Psychology Today. 2019. 7 Reasons Why We Fall for Fake News [online] Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/thoughts-thinking/201911/7-reasons-why-we-fall-fake-news [Accessed 05/11/20]
Statista. 2020. Most Popular Social Networks Worldwide as of July 2020, Ranked by Number of Active Users [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/ [Accessed 27/10/20]
The New Yorker. 2020. The Man Behind Trump’s Facebook Juggernaut [online] Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/09/the-man-behind-trumps-facebook-juggernaut [Accessed 04/11/20]
The Royal Parks. 2020. Speakers Corner [online] Available at: https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde-park/things-to-see-and-do/speakers-corner [Accessed 05/11/20]
Thomas, Scarlett. Monkeys with Typewriters: How to Write Fiction and Unlock the Secret Power of Stories. , 2016. Print.
Twitter. 2013. Donald J. Trump Tweet [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/332308211321425920?lang=en [Accessed 27/10/20
Worldometer. 2020. Current World Population [online] Available at: https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ [Accessed 26/10/20]
