tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/public-sphere-30854/articlesPublic sphere – The Conversation2023-06-19T12:25:08Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2072772023-06-19T12:25:08Z2023-06-19T12:25:08ZFascism lurks behind the dangerous conflation of the terms ‘partisan’ and ‘political’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532069/original/file-20230614-20687-lrdq4n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4885%2C3256&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters, including one wearing a t-shirt bearing former President Donald Trump's photo that says "Political prisoner," watch as Trump departs the federal courthouse after arraignment, June 13, 2023, in Miami.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXTrumpClassifiedDocuments/6b13a7ec06c746b8ac6362222e5bf49a/photo?Query=Trump%20supporters&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=13151&currentItemNo=24">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-personal-is-political">The personal is political!</a>” is a well-known rallying cry, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199328581.013.31">originally used by</a> left-leaning activists, including feminists, to emphasize the role of government in personal lives and systemic oppression. </p>
<p>It seems that now, it could be equally popular among right-wing politicians and their followers to communicate the idea that “everything is political.” </p>
<p>Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of former President Donald Trump’s recent indictment by the Department of Justice. Trump supporters say that the <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/political/donald-trump-supporters-question-indictment-claim-its-politically-motivated">decision to charge Trump was “political</a>.” If the department hadn’t charged Trump, that decision would likely have been seen by others as “political.” </p>
<p>In both cases, the critics would have meant that the prosecutors’ decision was influenced by partisan bias, based on whether the decision was good or bad for the Republican or Democratic party. U.S. <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/politics-law-drive-supreme-court-decisions-poll/story?id=99168846">Supreme Court decisions are often criticized</a> as “political.” So are actions taken by <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/facing-harassment-and-death-threats-some-election-workers-weigh-whether-to-stay">election officials</a>, <a href="https://www.livescience.com/22069-polarization-climate-science.html">scientific findings</a>, and even <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/heres-the-long-list-of-topics-republicans-want-banned-from-the-classroom/2022/02">topics taught in school</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.rit.edu/directory/lgtghs-lawrence-torcello">professor of political philosophy</a>, I worry that when both elected officials and citizens use the word “political” to accuse others of partisan bias, it means people no longer understand the distinctions between political and partisan, or public and private, which are vital to liberal democracy. </p>
<p>The preservation of such distinctions is crucial to rejecting <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-tyranny-could-be-the-inevitable-outcome-of-democracy-126158">less democratic and more authoritarian</a> forms of government – including fascism. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532070/original/file-20230614-17-zmkmo9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white flag with a religious symbol and the American flag combined on it and the words 'Proud American Christian.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532070/original/file-20230614-17-zmkmo9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532070/original/file-20230614-17-zmkmo9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532070/original/file-20230614-17-zmkmo9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532070/original/file-20230614-17-zmkmo9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532070/original/file-20230614-17-zmkmo9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532070/original/file-20230614-17-zmkmo9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532070/original/file-20230614-17-zmkmo9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">When partisanship gains momentum, people begin to advocate for legislation defining marriage, reproductive rights - as these anti-abortion protestors are doing - and other issues in ways that reflect narrow private and religious values.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pro-life-supporters-gather-on-the-national-mall-in-news-photo/1246394597?adppopup=true">Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>What is liberal democracy?</h2>
<p>In political philosophy terms, the United States is a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberal-democracy">liberal democracy</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.concordmonitor.com/The-meaning-of-democracy-32817134">Liberal democracy comes in multiple forms</a> ranging from constitutional monarchies – such as the United Kingdom – to republics, such as the United States. </p>
<p>Although no democracy achieves the ideals of liberalism perfectly, under liberal democratic governments, citizens have rights and private lives protected from the actions of government. For example, in the U.S. it is inappropriate for legislation to be <a href="https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1220/james-madison">crafted based on a religious belief</a>, even if some particular belief or sect is privately endorsed by a majority of citizens.</p>
<p>One way to view the purpose of a liberal democracy is to preserve and nurture the right of every citizen to have a private life independent of the government. In that private life, citizens pursue their own goals and develop connections, associations and activities that are of personal value. </p>
<p>Separate from that private life is the public arena, in which citizens come together to discuss and decide issues of common concern, such as national defense, economic policy and other issues that affect everyone. This is the world of elections, of legislatures, courts and officials.</p>
<p>People with divergent, or even very similar, personal lives could have different views on how to handle matters of public concern. But they can work together to rise above their differences to arrive at solutions to collective problems that benefit society as a whole. </p>
<p>A good example of this is the institution and funding of public educational systems, civil services and public parks, to help ensure every citizen has at least a minimum level of access to goods and services necessary for a healthy private and civic life. </p>
<h2>The rise of politics</h2>
<p>The philosopher Aristotle described <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0086,035:1:1253a">humans as political animals</a>, meaning that we depend upon the formation of cooperative political structures in order to flourish as human beings. </p>
<p>This human need for support networks that allow for mutual cooperation over time is the genesis of politics. In this sense, the concept of politics transcends more narrow partisan affiliations. </p>
<p>Political parties are just one aspect of political development – one, in fact, that <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-we-need-political-parties-in-theory-theyre-the-sort-of-organization-that-could-bring-americans-together-in-larger-purpose-199723">George Washington warned against</a> in his farewell address – that begins to blur the line between the public good of politics and narrower group interests. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A vintage portrait of a man with white hair, dressed in a black coat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532233/original/file-20230615-13634-3rtdan.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532233/original/file-20230615-13634-3rtdan.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532233/original/file-20230615-13634-3rtdan.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532233/original/file-20230615-13634-3rtdan.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532233/original/file-20230615-13634-3rtdan.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532233/original/file-20230615-13634-3rtdan.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532233/original/file-20230615-13634-3rtdan.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">George Washington warned about the potentially malign influence of political parties on democracy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/george-washington-portrait-painting-by-constable-hamilton-news-photo/507014168?adppopup=true">Constable-Hamilton, NY Public Library, Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Some of my own work pertains to how people’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12179">commitments to partisan identity</a> undermine their ability to understand scientific issues of public concern, such as human-caused climate change, and influence the spread of <a href="https://theconversation.com/bad-beliefs-misinformation-is-factually-wrong-but-is-it-ethically-wrong-too-196551">disinformation</a>. </p>
<h2>Lurking fascism</h2>
<p>As partisanship gains momentum, citizens and elected representatives alike become <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-polarization-is-bad-but-the-us-could-be-in-trouble-173833">less likely to constructively engage</a> with those they disagree with. People who differ on issues come to see each other as threats to their own private values. </p>
<p>Government power begins to be used not in service to the citizenry at large, but as a tool of narrow interest groups. This is where people begin to advocate for legislation defining marriage, reproductive rights and other issues in ways that reflect narrow private and religious values. </p>
<p>Whereas “the personal is the political” was originally meant to flag ways in which government decisions unfairly affect and define personal lives, the mindset that “<a href="https://erraticus.co/2020/02/19/suspending-politics-save-democracy-private-lives-political/">everything is political</a>” creates a situation of perpetual conflict between divergent groups. </p>
<p>That’s the opposite of what politics is for and what a liberal democracy does: A liberal democracy specifically guards against using <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-populist-challenge-to-liberal-democracy/">government power to further the agendas of distinctive groups</a>. It seeks to prevent government encroachment into the private lives of individuals, and vice versa, in order to constrain the worst impulses of politicians and citizens alike. </p>
<p>Fascism, by contrast, seeks to make government power an aspect of every dimension of its citizens’ lives. <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schmitt/">Nazi apologist Carl Schmitt</a> conceptualized politics as an all-consuming and literal life and death struggle between friends and enemies.</p>
<h2>Partisan dysfunction</h2>
<p>The current state of polarization in the U.S. highlights the problems that arise when liberal democracy’s division between private and public realms disappears.</p>
<p>Trump has posed many challenges for the United States’ constitutional democracy – <a href="https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/legacies-january-6">not least the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection</a>. His current situation is another. <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-indictments-wont-keep-him-from-presidential-race-but-will-make-his-reelection-bid-much-harder-197677">There is no constitutional obstacle</a> preventing him from running, or serving, as president even if he is found guilty of some of the charges against him, not even if he is sentenced to prison.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-indictments-wont-keep-him-from-presidential-race-but-will-make-his-reelection-bid-much-harder-197677">practical obstacles</a> to serving as president while in a prison are obvious. Even someone who agrees with Trump’s views on key issues can recognize the challenges an incarcerated president would face. </p>
<p>If the nation were <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-polarization-is-bad-but-the-us-could-be-in-trouble-173833">less polarized</a>, less focused on winning or losing the power to impose regulations on Americans’ private lives, lawmakers and the public might equally prioritize avoiding such an obvious problem. They’d seek to preserve the rule of law in a way that would benefit the nation as a whole.</p>
<p>But they haven’t. Instead, Trump supporters will <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/06/trump-indictment-not-politically-motivated-clinton-emails-biden.html">dismiss his indictments as “political</a>” maneuvers intended to influence the balance of power in the U.S. government, rather than as necessary checks on abuses of that power.</p>
<p>And if Trump is eventually cleared of the charges, or avoids a prison term if convicted, I believe his critics will view those developments as a product of politics, of the struggle for power, rather than the operation of a deliberative justice system.</p>
<h2>Shifting perspectives</h2>
<p>As political partisanship takes hold, <a href="https://theconversation.com/political-polarization-is-about-feelings-not-facts-120397">citizens come to trust only those institutions</a> that are run by members of their favored party. They no longer engage in the work of democracy and do not seek to ensure that independent, democracy-wide systems and institutions are protected from partisanship.</p>
<p>Rather than a means to living together peacefully, politics is treated as a <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the-politics-of-enemies/">contest between combatants</a>. Government institutions meant to serve all are treated as if they are inevitably capable of only serving a particular few – and the struggle begins over which few they are to serve.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the full solution to this problem is, but I believe one step in the right direction is for people to identify themselves more as supporters of liberal democracy itself than as members of, or backers of, any particular partisan political party.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lawrence Torcello does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When everything is seen as political – indictments, Supreme Court decisions, scientific findings – a democracy may be on its way to fascism.Lawrence Torcello, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1879602022-08-23T12:24:55Z2022-08-23T12:24:55ZYoga versus democracy? What survey data says about spiritual Americans’ political behavior<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480136/original/file-20220819-2830-wsaywk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C29%2C3870%2C2563&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For some, yoga is a spiritual practice that may substitute for religion.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/group-of-people-participate-in-a-yoga-session-taught-by-news-photo/1231905854?adppopup=true">CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the United States gets less religious, is it also getting more selfish? </p>
<p>Historically, religious Americans have been civically engaged. Through <a href="http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/1468-5906.00175">churches and other faith-based organizations</a>, congregants volunteer, engage in local and national civic organizations and pursue political goals. </p>
<p><a href="https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-vol1-24-423/">Today</a> – <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo3683361.html">the rise</a> of a politically potent <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo3683361.html">religious right over the past 50 years</a> notwithstanding – fewer Americans identify with formal religions. Gallup <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx">found</a> that 47% of Americans reported church membership in 2020, down from 70% in the 1990s; <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/2020-census-of-american-religion/">nearly a quarter of Americans have no religious affiliation</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, other kinds of meaningful practice are on the rise, from meditation and yoga to new <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/ritual-design-lab-secular-atheist/559535/">secular rituals</a> like <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242546">Sunday assemblies “without God.”</a> Between 2012 and 2017, the percentage of American adults who meditated rose from 4.1% to 14.2%, according to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2018/201811_Yoga_Meditation.htm">a 2018 CDC report</a>. The number of those who practiced yoga jumped from 9.5% to 14.3%. Not everyone considers these practices “spiritual,” but many do pursue them as an alternative to religious engagement. </p>
<p><a href="https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-vol1-24-423/">Some critics</a> question whether this new focus on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2019/jul/08/the-mindfulness-conspiracy-podcast">mindfulness and self-care</a> is <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289">making Americans more self-centered</a>. They suggest religiously disengaged Americans are channeling their energies into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14766086.2018.1438038">themselves and their careers</a> rather than into civic pursuits that may benefit the public.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AEb-z9IAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">sociologists</a> who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=I_z924QAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">religion and public life</a>, we wanted to answer that question. We used survey data to compare how these two groups of spiritual and religious Americans vote, volunteer and otherwise get involved in their communities.</p>
<h2>Spiritually selfish or religiously alienated?</h2>
<p>Our research began with the assumption that moving from organized religious practices to spiritual practices could have one of two effects on greater American society. </p>
<p>Spiritual practice could lead people to focus on more selfish or self-interested pursuits, such as their own personal development and career progress, to the detriment of U.S. society and democracy. </p>
<p>This is the argument sociologist <a href="https://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/people/carolyn-chen-1/">Carolyn Chen</a> pursues in her book “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691219080/work-pray-code">Work, Pray, Code</a>,” about how meditators in Silicon Valley are re-imagining Buddhist practices as productivity tools. As one employee described a company mindfulness program, it helped her “self-manage” and “not get triggered.” While these skills made her happier and gave her “the clarity to handle the complex problems of the company,” Chen shows how they also teach employees to put work first, sacrificing other kinds of social connection. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2019/jul/08/the-mindfulness-conspiracy-podcast">Bringing spiritual practice into the office</a> may give workers deeper purpose and meaning, but Chen says it can have some unintended consequences. </p>
<p>When workplaces fulfill workers’ most personal needs – providing not only meals and laundry but also recreational activities, spiritual coaches and mindfulness sessions – skilled workers end up spending most of their time at work. They invest in their company’s social capital rather than building ties with their neighbors, religious congregations and other civic groups. They are less likely to frequent local businesses. </p>
<p>Chen suggests that this disinvestment in community can ultimately lead to cuts in public services and weaken democracy. </p>
<p>Alternatively, our research posited, spiritual practices may serve as a substitute for religion. This explanation may hold especially true among Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912918771526">disaffected by the rightward lurch that now divides many congregations</a>, exacerbating <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soab134">cultural fissures around race</a>, gender and sexual orientation. </p>
<p>“They loved to tell me my sexuality doesn’t define me,” one 25-year-old former evangelical, Christian Ethan Stalker, told the <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/08/06/young-evangelicals-are-leaving-church-resistance-to-lgbtq-equality-is-driving-them-away/">Religion News Service</a> in 2021 in describing his former church. “But they shoved a handful of verses down my throat that completely sexualize me as a gay person and … dismissed who I am as a complex human being. That was a huge problem for me.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480139/original/file-20220819-22-kth4oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sign reads 'Catholics vote pro-life', written in red, white and blue." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480139/original/file-20220819-22-kth4oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480139/original/file-20220819-22-kth4oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480139/original/file-20220819-22-kth4oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480139/original/file-20220819-22-kth4oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480139/original/file-20220819-22-kth4oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480139/original/file-20220819-22-kth4oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480139/original/file-20220819-22-kth4oo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An anti-abortion message outside St. Anthony Church, in Brooksville, Fla., in 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/florida-brooksville-st-anthony-church-catholics-vote-pro-news-photo/1280323701?adppopup=true">Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Engaged on all fronts</h2>
<p>To answer our research question about spirituality and civic engagement, we used <a href="https://www.thearda.com/Archive/Files/Descriptions/NRSS2019.asp">a nationally representative survey</a> of Americans in 2020. </p>
<p>We examined the political behaviors of people who engaged in activities such as yoga, meditation, making art, walking in nature, praying and attending religious services. The political activities we measured included voting, volunteering, contacting representatives, protesting and donating to political campaigns. </p>
<p>We then compared those behaviors, distinguishing between people who see these activities as spiritual and those who see the same activities as religious. </p>
<p>Our new study, published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224221108196">American Sociological Review</a>, finds that spiritual practitioners are just as likely to engage in political activities as the religious. </p>
<p>After we controlled for demographic factors such as age, race and gender, frequent spiritual practitioners were about 30% more likely than nonpractitioners to report doing at least one political activity in the past year. Likewise, devoted religious practitioners were also about 30% more likely to report one of these political behaviors than respondents who do not practice religion. </p>
<p>In other words, we found heightened political engagement among both the religious and spiritual, compared with other people.</p>
<p>Our findings bolster similar conclusions made recently by sociologist <a href="https://briansteensland.com/">Brian Steensland</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12788">his colleagues in another study</a> on spiritual people and civic involvement.</p>
<h2>Uncovering the spiritual as a political force</h2>
<p>The spiritual practitioners we identified seemed particularly likely to be disaffected by the rightward turn in some congregations in recent years. On average, Democrats, women and people who identified as lesbian, gay and bisexual reported more frequent spiritual practices.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing a headset microphone leads a class of women, all holding their palms in front of their chests. The instructor has her eyes closed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mindfulness-focused weekly dance class at a recreation center in Littleton, Colo., in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/loelle-poneleit-center-leads-her-students-during-a-nia-news-photo/635565412?adppopup=true">Seth McConnell/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We suspect these groups are engaging in American politics in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23254823.2022.2086596">innovative ways</a>, such as through online groups and retreats that <a href="https://www.offthematintotheworld.org/">re-imagine spiritual community and democratic engagement</a>. </p>
<p>Our research recognizes progressive spiritual practitioners as a growing but largely <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/spiritual-but-not-religious-a-rising-misunderstood-voting-bloc/283000/">unrecognized, underestimated and misunderstood political force</a>. </p>
<p>In his influential book “<a href="http://bowlingalone.com/">Bowling Alone</a>,” Harvard political scientist <a href="http://robertdputnam.com/">Robert Putnam</a> suggests American religious disaffiliation is part of a larger trend of overall civic decline. Americans have been disengaging for decades from all kinds of civic groups, from bowling leagues and unions to parent-teacher organizations. </p>
<p>Our study gives good reason to reassess what being an “engaged citizen” means in the 21st century. People may change what they do on a Sunday morning, but checking out of church doesn’t necessarily imply checking out of the political process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evan Stewart is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Massachusetts Boston and a 2021-2022 Fellow with the Public Religion Research Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaime Kucinskas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the US gets less religious, some thinkers warn that it may get more selfish as people engage less with their communities. A team of scholars decided to investigate that concern.Evan Stewart, Assistant Professor of Sociology, UMass BostonJaime Kucinskas, Associate Professor of Sociology, Hamilton CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822712022-05-04T14:17:39Z2022-05-04T14:17:39ZElon Musk’s proposed takeover of Twitter raises questions about its role in the digital social infrastructure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461119/original/file-20220503-12-rp8d5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C125%2C4912%2C6992&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Internet technologies have meant that the public sphere has now become digital, but what does that mean for its ownership?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Gian Cescon/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the last few weeks, there has been <a href="https://www.economist.com/business/2022/04/30/elon-musk-is-taking-twitters-public-square-private">a lot of talk of the public square</a> fuelled by Elon Musk’s recent proposed takeover of Twitter. Many have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/01/elon-twitter-is-not-the-town-square-its-just-a-private-shop-square-belongs-to-us-all">balked at the idea that a billionaire would entirely control another one of the world’s important social networks</a>, one that has been adopted by academics and politicians as a choice venue for public debates. </p>
<p>But what is the public square, and what can we do to save it?</p>
<h2>Squares and spheres</h2>
<p>The concept of the public square is one that has a rich history in communications and technology studies. Historically, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/public%20square">the public square was a central location</a> where townspeople could gather and debate issues of the day. Each public square can be considered part of the public sphere, which is the area outside of the home where people engage in all kinds of public activities, such as debating, working, engaging in the community, and so on.</p>
<p>German philosopher Jürgen Habermas described the ideal public sphere as <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/structural-transformation-public-sphere">being composed of spaces in which a diverse set of ideas were debated freely until those present converged on a common ground</a>. Habermas provided the example of 17th-century coffeehouses in London, <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195104301.001.0001/acref-9780195104301-e-137">where male intellectuals and politicians mingled to discuss the societal issues of the moment</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461018/original/file-20220503-19-v210wy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A monochrome illustration of four men around a table playing draughts" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461018/original/file-20220503-19-v210wy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461018/original/file-20220503-19-v210wy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461018/original/file-20220503-19-v210wy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461018/original/file-20220503-19-v210wy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461018/original/file-20220503-19-v210wy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461018/original/file-20220503-19-v210wy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461018/original/file-20220503-19-v210wy.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An 18th-century illustration of men playing draughts in a London coffeehouse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/h83k3fu5">(S. Ireland/Wellcome Collection)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Habermas also criticized radio and television — the communications technologies of the 1960s, which arguably continued well into the 1990s. He argued that their one-way dissemination of information eroded the public sphere, and made people passive recipients of information without giving them the opportunity to respond.</p>
<h2>Virtual public sphere</h2>
<p>With the arrival of the internet and social media, the public sphere appeared to be revived. People could share their own ideas, not only with their immediate community, but with others around the world. Compared to earlier venues of public debate, the internet appeared to be more inclusive, allowing people of any gender, nationality or social class to participate, rather than only those with social privilege. </p>
<p>However, with this came <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-ca/The+Digital+Divide-p-9781509534456">new modes of exclusion</a> based on language, literacy, digital skills and internet access.</p>
<p>There were other issues too. Many argued that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23808985.2021.1976070">social media was polarizing</a>, allowing for the viral spreading of misinformation, and ultimately destabilizing for democracies. This has, in fact, been the subject of <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2595096">ardent debate</a> in the digital public square for more than a decade.</p>
<p>One of the current criticisms of Musk’s attempted acquisition of Twitter is that <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/26/elon-you-have-no-idea-what-the-hell-youre-talking-about/">he doesn’t understand the public sphere</a> or Twitter’s role in it. As such, Musk might not take the right measures to protect and improve it, particularly when it comes to minority rights. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461022/original/file-20220503-14-cm66tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="three people in a row with mobile phones in their hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461022/original/file-20220503-14-cm66tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461022/original/file-20220503-14-cm66tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461022/original/file-20220503-14-cm66tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461022/original/file-20220503-14-cm66tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461022/original/file-20220503-14-cm66tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461022/original/file-20220503-14-cm66tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461022/original/file-20220503-14-cm66tx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social media has become a space for access to information and the exchange of ideas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Privately owned public squares</h2>
<p>Like Habermas, many commentators today are <a href="https://www.noemamag.com/the-antidote-to-digital-disconnectivity/">worried about the erosion of the public sphere</a>. This space, even in a digital setting, is meant to allow people to discuss issues, access different perspectives and converge on common values and objectives. </p>
<p>While Twitter is often used for <a href="https://planable.io/blog/dumb-tweets/">less lofty objectives</a>, this kind of debate does exist on the platform. It is also used for other important objectives, such as <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3954252">disseminating information about humanitarian crises</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/missingkids/">finding missing children</a>.</p>
<p>Twitter, if it can be considered a public square, is part of the global public sphere, which is largely composed of social media platforms. Some of the largest — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — are owned by Mark Zuckerberg.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-digital-town-square-what-does-it-mean-when-billionaires-own-the-online-spaces-where-we-gather-182047">The 'digital town square'? What does it mean when billionaires own the online spaces where we gather?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As we have seen in numerous recent examples, <a href="https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-04-22/how-algorithmic-recommendations-can-push-internet-users-into-more-radical-views-and-opinions.html">the algorithms that run these platforms can easily be modified by social media companies</a>, with immense effects on public opinion. Having these algorithms effectively owned by a few very wealthy individuals who can manipulate opinions — and thus votes — veers us further away from democracy.</p>
<h2>Social media as a public good</h2>
<p>Many national and international bodies today are examining the idea of <a href="https://www.un.org/techenvoy/content/digital-public-goods">digital public goods</a>. In this context, it would mean that social media platforms should be available to all and regulated through international law, acknowledging their critical role in our social infrastructure.</p>
<p>Within this framework, an international body, such as the <a href="https://www.itu.int/en/Pages/default.aspx">UN International Telecommunications Union</a>, which oversees radio and other communications technologies, could co-ordinate an international convention on digital public goods, including social media. </p>
<p>This could then lead to signatory countries implementing stronger and more nuanced national regulations, particularly in terms of the monitoring of hate speech and misinformation. As it stands, social media companies often resolve these issues <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/4/16/18410931/twitter-abuse-update-health-technology-harassment">internally after the fact</a>.</p>
<p>Furthermore, efforts could be made to encourage further diversity in social media platforms. For example, <a href="https://techpolicy.press/why-social-media-needs-mandatory-interoperability/">the platforms could be interoperable</a>, as Facebook and Instagram are (both owned by Meta), in order to allow people to access their networks and share content from smaller platforms.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-elon-musk-succeeds-in-his-twitter-takeover-it-would-restrict-rather-than-promote-free-speech-181576">If Elon Musk succeeds in his Twitter takeover, it would restrict, rather than promote, free speech</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Manipulation of public opinion on social media to obtain political outcomes is <a href="https://demtech.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/93/2019/09/CyberTroop-Report19.pdf">already common</a>. However, the extent to which social media companies should be held accountable for the content they host is a constant tug-of-war with regulators. Recent examples include <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-facebook-idUSKCN1GO2PN">Facebook’s role in spreading hate speech that contributed to ethnic violence against the Rohingya in 2018</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461117/original/file-20220503-24-cl722a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a young man in a kufi holding a placard reading STOP KILLING ROHINGYA" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461117/original/file-20220503-24-cl722a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461117/original/file-20220503-24-cl722a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461117/original/file-20220503-24-cl722a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461117/original/file-20220503-24-cl722a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461117/original/file-20220503-24-cl722a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461117/original/file-20220503-24-cl722a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461117/original/file-20220503-24-cl722a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A UN investigation found that Facebook was used to spread hate speech against the Rohingya.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lens Hitam/Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, it might still be relevant to review the internal governance structures of social media platforms to prevent networks above a certain size from being owned by a single person.</p>
<p>But this is after the other important steps related to diversity in platforms and clearer guidelines — and stronger sanctions for manipulative algorithms or dangerous content.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unliked-how-facebook-is-playing-a-part-in-the-rohingya-genocide-89523">Unliked: How Facebook is playing a part in the Rohingya genocide</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Clear, global regulation</h2>
<p>The current debate around Twitter challenges its transformation into a private company. However, addressing this might mean more than simply allowing members of the public to become corporate shareholders again. In fact, this public outrage can be interpreted as a convergence towards making social media platforms global public goods.</p>
<p>Ultimately, much clearer regulation, and at an international level, will be necessary.</p>
<p>It’s easy to find fault in a billionaire’s ownership of a place of public deliberation. However, the governance of social media in our society was never ideal to begin with. Let’s take this opportunity to improve the digital public sphere, regardless of who owns a particular space.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleonore Fournier-Tombs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is seen as a threat to the digital public square. International regulation is required to protect internet users’ access to democratic public spaces.Eleonore Fournier-Tombs, Senior Researcher, Data and Technology, Institute in Macau (UNU-Macau), United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1531192021-02-22T13:46:23Z2021-02-22T13:46:23ZFacebook’s free speech myth is dead – and regulators should take notice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385404/original/file-20210221-19-18q8ra9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4479%2C2775&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/facebook-logo-seen-on-the-smartphone-and-blurred-australian-flag-on-the-background-screen-concept-stafford-united-kingdom-february-18-2021-image405794748.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=8C906DAB-C458-4A6D-90AB-AD9DBE690C0C&p=1396470&n=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3dbar%26st%3d0%26pn%3d1%26ps%3d100%26sortby%3d2%26resultview%3dsortbyPopular%26npgs%3d0%26qt%3dfacebook%2520australia%26qt_raw%3dfacebook%2520australia%26lic%3d3%26mr%3d0%26pr%3d0%26ot%3d0%26creative%3d%26ag%3d0%26hc%3d0%26pc%3d%26blackwhite%3d%26cutout%3d%26tbar%3d1%26et%3d0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3d0%26loc%3d0%26imgt%3d0%26dtfr%3d%26dtto%3d%26size%3d0xFF%26archive%3d1%26groupid%3d%26pseudoid%3d%26a%3d%26cdid%3d%26cdsrt%3d%26name%3d%26qn%3d%26apalib%3d%26apalic%3d%26lightbox%3d%26gname%3d%26gtype%3d%26xstx%3d0%26simid%3d%26saveQry%3d%26editorial%3d%26nu%3d%26t%3d%26edoptin%3d%26customgeoip%3dGB%26cap%3d1%26cbstore%3d1%26vd%3d0%26lb%3d%26fi%3d2%26edrf%3d0%26ispremium%3d1%26flip%3d0%26pl%3d">mundissima/Alamy Stock Photo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Facebook’s recent decision to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/facebook-blocks-australia-news-access-fed95e78e8bf30f167eb1a2d893ac89c">block its Australian users</a> from sharing or viewing news content provoked a worldwide backlash and accusations of hubris and bullying. Although the company has now reversed its decision following an agreement with the Australian government, the row has exposed the fragility of Facebook’s founding myth: that Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild is a force for good, providing a public space for people to connect, converse and cooperate.</p>
<p>An inclusive public space in the good times, Facebook has yet again proved willing to eject and exclude in the bad times – as a private firm ultimately has the right to do. Facebook seems to be a bastion of free speech up to and until the moment its revenue is endangered. At that point, as in the case of the Australian news ban, it defaults to a private space.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10603/9549">My recent paper</a> explores social media’s spatial hybridity, arguing that we must stop seeing companies like Facebook as public spaces and “platforms” for free speech. Equally, given their ubiquity and dominance, we shouldn’t see them solely as private spaces, either. Instead, these companies should be defined as “corpo-civic” spaces – a mixture of the two – and regulated as such: by internal guidelines as well as external laws.</p>
<p>Facebook’s disagreement with the Australian government was over a <a href="https://www.crn.com.au/news/accc-warns-google-facebook-laws-are-just-the-start-559690">new set of laws</a> drawn up there to counter big tech’s monopoly power. The law in question responds to news companies’ complaints that they are losing advertising revenue to dominant content-sharing platforms such as Facebook and Google. <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/r6652_ems_2fe103c0-0f60-480b-b878-1c8e96cf51d2/upload_pdf/JC000725.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">The law</a> compels Facebook to agree a fee with news companies in an effort to reimburse them for the advertising revenue they lose to Facebook.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385401/original/file-20210221-19-xbv39x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph showing how Facebook have a growing share of display advertising in Australia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385401/original/file-20210221-19-xbv39x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385401/original/file-20210221-19-xbv39x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385401/original/file-20210221-19-xbv39x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385401/original/file-20210221-19-xbv39x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385401/original/file-20210221-19-xbv39x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385401/original/file-20210221-19-xbv39x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385401/original/file-20210221-19-xbv39x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Facebook’s growing share of display advertising revenue in Australia is one reason for the new law.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/ACCC%20Digital%20Platforms%20Service%20Inquiry%20-%20September%202020%20interim%20report.pdf">ACC Digital Platforms Services Inquiry: Interim report, September 2020</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite threatening to withdraw from Australia, Google eventually chose to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/technology/facebook-google-australia-news.html">agree to those fees</a>. Facebook didn’t follow suit. Instead, as if by the flick of a switch, the company turned off the news in Australia. Caught in the crossfire and also finding themselves blocked on Facebook were <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/18/facebook-blocked-charity-and-state-health-pages-in-australia-news-ban.html">charities and government organisations</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/19/facebooks-australia-ban-threatens-to-leave-pacific-without-key-news-source">Pacific communities</a> outside of Australian jurisdiction. </p>
<p>The news block has played poorly for Facebook. Having claimed impotence in the face of growing disinformation for years, Facebook’s new-found iron fist <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/facebook-australia-rupert-murdoch">has raised eyebrows</a>. But this apparent inconsistency can be explained – though perhaps not justified – when we see Facebook as a public space with private interests.</p>
<p>Social media firms aren’t the only organisations straddled between the private and the public. Shopping centres are a common example in the offline world. So are some apparently public spaces like New York’s Zuccotti Park where, in 2011, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/blog/2011/nov/25/occupy-wall-street-eviction-inevitable">Occupy Wall Street protesters</a> found themselves evicted both by police and by the park’s private owners, Brookfield Properties.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A busy shopping centre with many people walking around, some blurred" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385531/original/file-20210222-17-tmyhqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385531/original/file-20210222-17-tmyhqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385531/original/file-20210222-17-tmyhqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385531/original/file-20210222-17-tmyhqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385531/original/file-20210222-17-tmyhqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385531/original/file-20210222-17-tmyhqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385531/original/file-20210222-17-tmyhqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shopping centres are a common example of spaces that are both public and private.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shopping-198234164">estherpoon/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Social media platforms operate similarly. Just as a shopping centre relies on footfall, Facebook profits from active users on its platform. For Facebook, this profit is generated <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/what-facebooks-revenue-breakdown-2019-03-28-0">almost entirely</a> via the revenue provided by online advertising. </p>
<p>It shouldn’t surprise us that, when confronted with a law that could force Facebook to part with an unspecified amount of its revenue, the company showed resistance – even if that deprived Australian users of news content and a <a href="https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/2852/protecting-civic-spaces">civic space to share and discuss it</a>. </p>
<h2>Nazis and nipples</h2>
<p>Facebook’s brief Australian news block is the latest example of a social media company falling short of its own principles. Governed by “community standards” that are <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/70035/the-republic-of-facebook/">effectively in-platform laws</a>, platforms such as Facebook have a history of enforcing their rules on an ad-hoc basis. For years, researchers have <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444809342738?journalCode=nmsa">argued</a> that this system is inadequate, inconsistent and open to abuse.</p>
<p>Most glaring is social media’s inconsistent enforcement of its own community standards. Facebook and Instagram’s moderation has previously targeted <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2020.1783805?journalCode=rfms20">women’s nipples</a> and has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-50222380">forced sex workers offline</a>, while self-professed Nazis were only forced from Facebook after their participation in the US Capitol riots on January 6 2021.</p>
<p>During the run-up to the US election in 2020, Mark Zuckerberg actually <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-facebook-aspen-zuckerberg-regulation-20190626-story.html">invited regulation from the government</a>, which seemed to be an admission that Facebook had grown beyond its ability to regulate itself. Yet, as we’ve seen with events in Australia, the corporate half of these online civic spaces baulks at any external regulation that might be bad for business.</p>
<h2>Corpo-civic spaces</h2>
<p>So how should we regulate these hybrid spaces with competing and sometimes contradictory interests? My recent paper turns to “<a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803103943995">third space theory</a>” for answers. Third space theory has been used to understand spatially ambiguous places, like when people’s homes become their workplaces, or when people feel a tension between their <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40647476">ancestral and adopted homes</a>.</p>
<p>When applied to ambiguous spaces between the “corporate” and the “civic”, third space theory can help us better understand the unique regulatory challenges associated with social media companies. Facebook, for instance, is neither a wholly corporate nor a wholly civic space: it’s a corpo-civic one.</p>
<p>A corpo-civic governance approach would recognise that to heavily penalise and restrict social media companies would be to risk dismantling valuable civic spaces. At the same time, to see Facebook solely as a platform for free speech gives it licence to place maximising profits above ethics and human rights. </p>
<p>Instead, a corpo-civic governance model could apply international human rights standards to content moderation, putting the protection of people above the protection of profits. This is not dissimilar from the standards we expect of shopping centres, which may have their own private security policies but which must nevertheless abide by state law. </p>
<p>Because social media platforms are global and not local like shopping centres, it will be important for the laws that govern them to be transnational. Facebook may have briefly blocked the news for Australians, but it wouldn’t make the same decision for hundreds of millions of users across several different countries.</p>
<p>Australia might be “<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/09/australia-google-regulation-internet-big-tech-silicon-valley-media/">Ground Zero</a>” for laws aimed at reining in big tech, but it’s certainly not the only country drafting them. Having those state regulators work together on transnational policies will be crucial. In the meantime, events in Australia are a warning for tech companies and state regulators alike about social media’s hybrid nature, and the tension between people and profits that emerge from corpo-civic spaces.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated on February 23 2021 after Facebook agreed a compromise with the Australian government to reverse the news block.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153119/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carolina Are does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Facebook’s choice of profits over the people is difficult to reconcile with its commitment to free speech.Carolina Are, Researcher and visiting lecturer, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1513762020-12-04T22:01:42Z2020-12-04T22:01:42ZMystery monoliths: why conspiracists are ‘meh’ about the phenomenon — and how you can start a better conspiracy<p>The three recent appearances (and two <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/another-mysterious-monolith-disappeared-in-romania/">subsequent</a> <a href="https://ksltv.com/449486/dps-crew-discovers-mysterious-monolith-from-air-in-remote-utah-wilderness/">removals</a>) of “<a href="https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/national-news/18919395.california-monolith-emerges-utah-romania-works-disappear/">monoliths</a>” in Romania, Utah and California are intriguing examples of what can capture the public’s imagination. </p>
<p>These constructions are metallic-looking structures about three or four metres tall, with a simple geometric design and reflective surface. </p>
<p>They’ll look familiar to fans of Arthur C. Clarke’s Space Odyssey novels, sharing an uncanny resemblance to a monolithic structure pivotal to the story. </p>
<p>Adding to the mystery, the Utah monolith was reportedly in place long before it came to light <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/mysterious-metal-monolith-discovered-in-remote-utah-desert/">on November 18</a>. While its location wasn’t announced, members of the public <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/utah-monolith-found-trnd/index.html">found Google Earth images</a> of the object dating back to 2016.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1333207303852613632"}"></div></p>
<p>So far, no credible source has suggested the structures are a product of alien technology or supernatural influence. And unlike with UFO sightings and <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a24152/area-51-history/">Area 51</a> news, governments have not been accused of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/14/men-in-black-ufo-sightings-mirage-makers-movie">cover-up</a>.</p>
<p>So even though <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=monolith">Google Trends data</a> shows global search interest in “monolith” has shot up since the structures were found, they’re not yet the subject of widespread conspiracy. And a reflection of past similar phenomena suggests they won’t be.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1333828686584324096"}"></div></p>
<h2>Intriguing artefacts</h2>
<p>The maker (or makers) of the curious objects are likely still around, but they’re not talking. In the meantime, the structures call to mind some major oddities and artefacts from the past, all of which gained considerable fame.</p>
<p>Peru’s <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/archaeology/nasca-lines/">Nazca lines</a> are one example. These shallow depressions in rock from around 500 BCE form colossal shapes of animals and plants which, intriguingly, are best observed from the air. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372787/original/file-20201203-13-1o5xfnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372787/original/file-20201203-13-1o5xfnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372787/original/file-20201203-13-1o5xfnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372787/original/file-20201203-13-1o5xfnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372787/original/file-20201203-13-1o5xfnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372787/original/file-20201203-13-1o5xfnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372787/original/file-20201203-13-1o5xfnf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ancient Nazca lines in Peru cover almost 1,000 square kilometres, and form about about 300 different figures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/crop-circles-the-art-of-the-hoax-2524283/">crop circle</a> phenomenon may also strike a chord. These complex geometric patterns which apparently form overnight in fields across the world have captured imaginations <a href="https://www.livescience.com/26540-crop-circles.html">for decades</a>. </p>
<p>Both these phenomena have produced exotic accounts claiming to explain them. Some <a href="https://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-5/episode-8">have said</a> the Nazca lines were created to communicate with space travellers. Crop circles, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2011/06/15/137188796/mysterious-crop-circles-alien-messages-or-hoax">others say</a>, are the product of alien labour meant to send us a message.</p>
<p>No one knows why the ancient Peruvians made their lines. Their motivations may be hidden forever. Crop circles, however, are a modern occurrence. </p>
<p>And despite claims they couldn’t possibly be made by humans, humans make them all the time, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/10/world/2-jovial-con-men-demystify-those-crop-circles-in-britain.html">often for</a> the enjoyment of their effect on others. Crop circles also <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/pictures-crop-circles-tourism-wiltshire-england/">drive</a> <a href="https://stonehengetours.com/weird-wiltshire-stonehenge-crop-circle-tour.htm">tourism</a> in certain parts of the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372786/original/file-20201203-19-13dwm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372786/original/file-20201203-19-13dwm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372786/original/file-20201203-19-13dwm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372786/original/file-20201203-19-13dwm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372786/original/file-20201203-19-13dwm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372786/original/file-20201203-19-13dwm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372786/original/file-20201203-19-13dwm90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crop circles in fields tend to be heavily geometric and often display concentric circles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But why are we so easily grabbed by such peculiarities anyway? After all, our lives aren’t impacted by them.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/neverending-stories-why-we-still-love-unsolved-mysteries-141046">Neverending stories – why we still love Unsolved Mysteries</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>When things don’t make sense</h2>
<p>There are many possible reasons people fix their attention on potential oddities, and even start <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781429996761">believing</a> strange things about them.
One is that they short-circuit our sense of how the world works — injecting novelty into an otherwise routine and coherent existence. </p>
<p>As the physicist and Nobel Laureate <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1965/feynman/biographical/">Richard Feynman</a> <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691153032/the-quotable-feynman">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…the thing that doesn’t fit is the most interesting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The tendency to imagine alternatives and to entertain a “what if?” scenario is the same reason we love reading speculative fiction.</p>
<p>If the Nazca lines really were etched to communicate with aliens — and if crop circles really represent alien messages targeted at us — the model of the world in our heads would be flipped. </p>
<p>But of course, as the great science communicator Carl Sagan points out, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3114207/">paraphrasing</a> prominent polymath <a href="https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Laplace/">Pierre-Simon Laplace</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There’s nothing to suggest the above phenomena are evidence of anything extraordinary. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372940/original/file-20201203-17-usqili.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372940/original/file-20201203-17-usqili.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372940/original/file-20201203-17-usqili.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372940/original/file-20201203-17-usqili.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372940/original/file-20201203-17-usqili.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372940/original/file-20201203-17-usqili.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372940/original/file-20201203-17-usqili.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Antikythera Mechanism is an out-of-place artefact. These are artefacts of historical, archaeological, or paleontological interest which challenge widely accepted historical chronology.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another interesting “<a href="http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/">out-of-place</a>” artefact is the ancient <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/decoding-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-180953979/">Antikythera mechanism</a>. This is seemingly an analog computer once used to predict astronomical positions and events.</p>
<p>But perhaps most notorious are the old favourites: Egypt’s <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/archaeology/giza-pyramids/">Great Pyramid of Giza</a> (and the widespread conjecture surrounding its construction), <a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history-and-stories/history/">Stonehenge</a> in England, and the enigmatic <a href="https://www.easterisland.travel/easter-island-facts-and-info/moai-statues/">Easter Island</a> statues. All have been connected to aliens, lost wisdom or extinct civilisations.</p>
<h2>In case you need a summer project</h2>
<p>When it comes to creating a spectacle worthy of the public’s attention, there are some key lessons to be learned from past successes in making artefacts, including:</p>
<p><strong>Go big</strong></p>
<p>It pays to do something on a large scale, either by making a big artefact, or having small ones appear over a very large area.</p>
<p><strong>Stay obscure</strong> </p>
<p>The meaning of the artefact should remain unclear, or at least allow room for interpretation. It’s in these situations of uncertainty that the human imagination can run wild. </p>
<p>While the monoliths’ intent is unclear, they could be explained as art. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/arts/design/john-mccracken-utah-monolith.html">Reports</a> <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/analysis/destructive-sensationalised-and-maybe-not-even-art-the-short-and-shadowy-legacy-of-the-utah-monolith">have pointed</a> to their similarity with artwork by minimalist sculptor John McCracken.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1331627451001282567"}"></div></p>
<p><strong>Aesthetics matter</strong> </p>
<p>It’s nice if the artefact is aesthetically pleasing or interesting. The geometric precision of pyramids and crop circles speaks to significant care and perhaps mathematical sophistication. The monoliths are comparatively <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7493097/utah-monolith-romania/">basic</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Be original</strong> </p>
<p>A display that has never been seen before is far more newsworthy. The monoliths are highly derivative of those appearing in Stanley Kubrick’s <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/23/2001-a-space-odyssey-what-it-means-and-how-it-was-made">2001: A Space Odyssey</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Be difficult to copy</strong></p>
<p>The monoliths could have been knocked up in a workshop. The “wow” factor for artefacts usually comes through an appreciation of their complexity, or seeming impossibility of their manufacture. The scale of the Nazca lines speak to this, as do potential efforts to construct Giza and Stonehenge.</p>
<h2>Humans can do amazing things</h2>
<p>Whatever the true explanations, most phenomena can be attributed to human ingenuity and a willingness to persevere. Simply, we must ask: </p>
<ol>
<li>is it likely the means of construction were accessible to humans?</li>
<li>is it likely it served a meaningful purpose for the maker? </li>
</ol>
<p>In most cases, the former is true. Although the time and resources required must have been momentous, it was clearly not <em>impossible</em> to <a href="https://www.history.com/news/ancient-egypt-pyramid-ramp-discovery">build Giza</a>. We’ll probably have to face the fact humans are just very clever and industrious. </p>
<p>It’s harder to be sure the second point is true, although that doesn’t mean it isn’t. </p>
<p>But every now and then we also like to have fun with artefacts and generate something unique and novel, even if it is for entertainment value alone.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-ancient-egyptian-economy-laid-the-groundwork-for-building-the-pyramids-107026">How the Ancient Egyptian economy laid the groundwork for building the pyramids</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151376/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Ellerton is a fellow of the Rationalist Society of Australia</span></em></p>It’s no surprise the unexplained structures have the internet buzzing. But they haven’t entered the ranks of other great conspiracy material — and history helps explain why they probably won’t.Peter Ellerton, Senior Lecturer in Critical Thinking; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/904702018-01-22T15:40:37Z2018-01-22T15:40:37ZMargaret Atwood: tried on social media, convicted by the press<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202799/original/file-20180122-46244-j6xv91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/birds-speech-bubbles-seamless-pattern-211401517?src=q-UBvH_baSTaEaobwhJiNg-1-17">Alex Gorka via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The struggling economics of news organisations these days means that it’s cheap to report debates and controversies taking place on social media and so these rows, especially when they involve well-known people, get more prominent coverage in newspapers and news bulletins than they deserve.</p>
<p>Recent reports have focused on the savaging Canadian author Margaret Atwood has received on social media for <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/am-i-a-bad-feminist/article37591823/">an article</a> she authored in which she claimed that the #MeToo campaign was a symptom of a broken legal system. Referring to a case in which a Canadian academic lost his job after allegations of sexual harassment, she claimed that the campaign has become a “witch hunt” in which the idea of due process – that people must be presumed innocent until found guilty under the law, is being threatened by mob rule by which an anonymous allegation (usually of some kind of sexual misconduct) is enough to unleash a reputation-destroying avalanche of negative comments. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"953333272217575424"}"></div></p>
<p>It begs the question of what the role of social media should be in modern public debates. Scholars have been debating this topic for a while now, and the main contributions are grounded in an important theory by Jurgen Habermas: the theory of the <a href="http://www.socpol.unimi.it/docenti/barisione/documenti/File/2008-09/Habermas%20(1964)%20-%20The%20Public%20Sphere.pdf">Public Sphere</a>. According to Habemas, democratic societies are characterised by the presence of a space of public debate – the public sphere, or a public space such as a town square or a bar of cafe where people would get together to discuss matters of public interest. Importantly, the public sphere is a place where people are not monitored and are able to hold the power accountable by forming a public opinion. </p>
<p>With the increasing prominence of social media, scholars have started asking whether they can be seen as new forms of public sphere. Supporters of this position <a href="http://sites.asiasociety.org/womenleaders/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/The-Political-Power-of-Social-Media-Foreign-Affairs2.pdf">argue</a> that social media have already become an important tool for political activism around the world. Indeed, <a href="http://usir.salford.ac.uk/41501/">Mohammad Mesawa’s PhD</a> work has demonstrated the key role played by social media in Tunisia and Egypt during the so-called Arab Spring during which young people especially made extensive use of social media as a tool to communicate and coordinate action. </p>
<p>In this sense, the #MeToo campaign can be seen as an example of mobilisation whereby women from all around the world join in to make a statement about the predominance and diffusion of sexual harassment in modern societies. The effectiveness of this campaign rests in bringing the issue of sexual harassment in the political and media agenda. Importantly, <a href="https://www.samblackman.org/Articles/Suler.pdf">the online disinhibition</a> effect (the fact that people are more likely to disclose intimate information online) may encourage victims to disclose true instances of sexual harassment if protected by anonymity and the security of the online environment.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202792/original/file-20180122-110097-wi5dh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202792/original/file-20180122-110097-wi5dh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202792/original/file-20180122-110097-wi5dh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202792/original/file-20180122-110097-wi5dh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202792/original/file-20180122-110097-wi5dh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202792/original/file-20180122-110097-wi5dh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202792/original/file-20180122-110097-wi5dh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=683&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Margaret Atwood: savaged online for her views on the #MeToo campaign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Margaret-Atwood_19.10.2009.jpg">Lesekreis</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the opposing side are those who argue that social media are essentially a place where people are seeking entertainment – <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ljitCQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA131&dq=cute+cat+theory+of+digital+activism&ots=K9CG9ZRUNE&sig=suOLOq6WUA3K_jfC3eH2gBV_epw#v=onepage&q=cute%20cat%20theory%20of%20digital%20activism&f=false">sharing pictures of cute cats</a> rather than engaging in serious political debates. What is worse, even when people do engage in political activities online, they do so as token gestures – what is often referred to as “virtue signalling” – which are more about establishing a cause as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756321730612X">part of someone’s identity</a> and which might distract people from actually doing anything in the real world, as Malcom Gladwell argued in his famous 2010 <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell">article in the New Yorker</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Social networks are effective at increasing participation – by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Civil engagement</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/is-social-media-making-britains-political-debate-more-extreme-61232">As I argued elsewhere</a>, the issue of whether social media are amplifying or simply reflecting rivalry and incivility characterising political debates is still contentious. People are always pointing the finger at what they see as the unpleasant or over-the-top tone of social media debate, yet – let’s face it – the quality of political debate in the House of Commons or in mainstream media doesn’t exactly encourage people to seek the higher ground. The adversarial style of conversation and the relentless personal attacks by politicians – combined with the media’s tendency to <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-28/may-2015/age-celebrity-politics">focus on individuals and political scandals</a> mean that they are hardly models of balanced and respectful debates on political issues.</p>
<p>In the case of online campaigns such as #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo, the point made by Atwood is perfectly valid – these campaigns all too often do turn into violent and irrational altercations online – but this is actually not very different from the way in which people might argue at a public meeting or in a bar.</p>
<p>The big difference is, of course, that social media are public platforms – and what we say there can potentially reach a much larger audience. But unless you use a specific hashtag to find a particular issue, you’ll generally end up limited to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Solomon_Messing/publication/276067921_Political_science_Exposure_to_ideologically_diverse_news_and_opinion_on_Facebook/links/5699070a08ae6169e55161f5/Political-science-Exposure-to-ideologically-diverse-news-and-opinion-on-Facebook.pdf">talking to your own network</a> of – mostly like-minded – individuals.</p>
<h2>Reported speech</h2>
<p>It has become a common journalistic practice to report instances in which particular people have been targeted by critics online. A simple search for the word “backlash” associated to Twitter, social media or Facebook in the UK press in the past month returns more than 150 results. Social media could therefore influence people’s perceptions of the <a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/304772839?pq-origsite=gscholar">standards</a> within their own community. But the attention dedicated to it by mainstream media could potentially work as a megaphone and amplify the phenomenon.</p>
<p>News outlets and journalists quite rightly want to cover what people find interesting – and social media can be a useful way of gauging public opinion on issues. But when the exchanges become the news rather than the substance of the political issue, journalists are missing an amazing opportunity to fulfil their role in providing useful information which could contribute to – rather than amplify – the debate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90470/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon Coen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Canadian author made the mistake of questioning the #MeToo campaign and was savaged on social media.Sharon Coen, Senior Lecturer in Media Psychology, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/809412017-07-26T01:45:39Z2017-07-26T01:45:39ZHow public feuds on social media and reality TV play out in court<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179630/original/file-20170725-28293-13xq8a7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=224%2C410%2C4062%2C2329&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How incriminating is your Instagram feed?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chiang-mai-thailand-jul-102016-women-452103463">Jirapong Manustrong/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Free expression on TV and social media generates big ratings and even bigger online followings. Unscripted reality stars claim to bring their authentic expressions to the public through these channels. Beyond influencing the court of public opinion, though, can reality stars wind up in legal trouble for these actions? </p>
<p>Shortly after Independence Day, reality television personality Robert Kardashian Jr. served up fireworks of his own on Instagram and Twitter, posting embarrassing and lewd videos and photos of his ex, Angela “Blac Chyna” White, in an hours-long tirade. The evolving situation <a href="http://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2017/07/05/rob-kardashian.html">captured the media’s attention</a> and, unfortunately for Kardashian, the posts also captured the attention of White and her lawyers. </p>
<p>In a matter of days, White and her legal team filed for, and received, a temporary restraining order against Kardashian based on his social media posts. According to White’s lawyers, they received a “complete and total victory” in the civil case. White has also threatened to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/rob-kardashian-blac-chyna-nude-photots-criminal-charges-revenge-porn-reality-tv-ex-girlfriend-a7826531.html">press criminal charges</a> under California’s revenge porn laws.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KQlHxUV3FPw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Angela ‘Blac Chyna’ White and her lawyers, Lisa Bloom and Walter Mosley, hold a press conference shortly after their courtroom victory.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the exhibits in the case <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/rob-kardashians-ex-fiancee-arrives-at-court-for-hearing/2017/07/10/d78281d4-6583-11e7-94ab-5b1f0ff459df_story.html">have been sealed</a>, the order prohibits Kardashian from, among other things, posting pictures online of White and their infant daughter.</p>
<p>This saga is the latest high-profile example of the serious legal issues revolving around both reality TV and social media. To the general public, TV footage and social media posts can seem like easy proof of behavior. However, as a law professor who researches the impact of the internet on our legal system, I’ve learned that using this information as evidence in court is not always a slam dunk. </p>
<h2>Repercussions of reality TV</h2>
<p>Reality TV provides us unprecedented access into others’ lives – and <a href="http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/comlrtj14&div=26&id=&page=">creates novel legal problems</a> for people who find themselves in court. As TV cameras have begun to give us seemingly unfiltered views into the private lives of others, they’ve also captured information that could be used in legal proceedings. </p>
<p>This kind of programming has roots in the “Candid Camera”-type shows that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305709011_Allen_Funt_Stanley_Milgram_and_Me_Postwar_Social_Science_and_the_First_Wave_of_Reality_TV">started in the 1940s</a> and the groundbreaking “<a href="http://www.pbs.org/show/american-family/">An American Family</a>” documentary series that aired on PBS in 1973. But reality television really <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-love-reality-tv-psychology-2016-11">exploded in popularity</a> toward the beginning of the 21st century. Today, there are <a href="http://www.adweek.com/tv-video/overhaul-national-geographic-channel-stresses-quality-programming-over-quantity-169896/">nearly twice as many</a> reality TV shows as there are scripted shows during prime time. Viewers tune in to see what traditionally has taken place behind closed doors. With the rise in prominence of such shows and their stars, it’s no wonder that reality TV footage is increasingly showing up in court.</p>
<p>Some early cases of reality TV footage being used in courtrooms <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/12/22/exhibit-a-reality-tv-footage-becomes-a-legal-tool-with-tax-collectors-and-in-pricey-court-cases/">revolved around civil cases</a>. In one <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/dec/20/andy-warhol-farrah-fawcett-ryan-oneal">famously contentious lawsuit</a> between actor Ryan O'Neal and the University of Texas, the school tried to use TV footage from the reality show “Chasing Farrah” to prove that O'Neal did not own an Andy Warhol portrait of Farrah Fawcett. The university had a vested interest in the portrait because when Fawcett died, she left it all of her artwork. O'Neal argued that he owned the portrait because <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-farrah-fawcett-verdict-20131219-story.html">Warhol gave it to him</a> during Fawcett’s life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179496/original/file-20170724-21564-1frl7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179496/original/file-20170724-21564-1frl7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179496/original/file-20170724-21564-1frl7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179496/original/file-20170724-21564-1frl7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179496/original/file-20170724-21564-1frl7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179496/original/file-20170724-21564-1frl7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179496/original/file-20170724-21564-1frl7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179496/original/file-20170724-21564-1frl7m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One Warhol portrait is controlled by the University of Texas at Austin’s art museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eelundgaard/5937718384">Ethan Lundgaard</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In “Chasing Farrah” footage, Fawcett tells the owner of an auction house that she owned two Warhol portraits – including the one O'Neal claimed was his. The university argued this proved that Fawcett, not O'Neal, was the rightful owner of the portrait. But even with this footage, O'Neal <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-25458884">won the lawsuit</a> and the court allowed him to keep the portrait.</p>
<p>Footage used in criminal cases has not always fared better. For example, “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3694654/">To Catch a Predator</a>,” a reality TV series on from 2004-2007, focused on exposing men who solicited sex online from underage decoys. Though this footage appeared to show men committing horrible acts and being arrested, it did not always lead to convictions in court.</p>
<p>For example, one California man who appeared on the show was <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/dateline-catch-a-predator-case-223775">acquitted of all charges</a> because the judge did not find the evidence credible. Interestingly, he was the only man from his episode who went to trial – all of the other men from that same California location pleaded guilty without taking their chances in court. In another instance, a Texas district attorney dropped all charges and <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/06/28/texas-da-wont-prosecute-any-pedophiles-nabbed-in-nbc-predator-show.html">refused to prosecute</a> any of the 24 men featured on the program from his district; he questioned the involvement of people outside of law enforcement and the unreliability of the evidence they gathered. </p>
<h2>What’s really real</h2>
<p>Social media, on the other hand, has at times been used more successfully in court, though it’s not automatically admissible. Before a judge allows a social media post to be considered, it must be “<a href="https://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/committees/trialevidence/articles/051711-authentication-social-media.html">authenticated</a>” – a lawyer needs to show that the alleged wrongdoer owns the account and wrote the post in question, and that the printed-out version before the court accurately reflects what appeared on the social media site.</p>
<p>States have different rules for proving this. In Maryland, for example, <a href="http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=endnotes">authentication standards are very high</a> to avoid the risk of manipulation, and courts request detailed evidence of proof. In other states, like Texas, while the judge serves as a gatekeeper for the evidence, the <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/publications/youraba/2016/november-2016/how-to-get-social-media-evidence-admitted-to-court.html">jury gets to make the final decision</a> about how reliable social media evidence is.</p>
<p>Once social media posts are admitted as evidence, however, they can be helpful for the submitting party. In one recent case, Bollea v. Gawker, <a href="https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/hulk-hogan-sex-tape-what-you-say-in-a-chat-room-can-be-used-against-you.html">Hulk Hogan’s lawyers used conversations</a> held by Gawker employees on Campfire, a social media messaging app, to prove claims of harm. Ultimately, a jury found Gawker liable for US$140 million in damages related to its posting of a sex tape featuring Hogan. </p>
<p>Social media posts have also led to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2399535/Matthew-Best-New-York-Rappers-Instagram-pictures-guns-cash-led-bust.html">largest gun bust</a> in New York City’s history, driven a settlement between department store Lord & Taylor and the Federal Trade Commission over <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/03/lord-taylor-settles-ftc-charges-it-deceived-consumers-through">charges of deceptive Instagram posts</a> and <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/family_law/childcustody.authcheckdam.pdf">affected child custody decisions</a> made by courts. </p>
<p>Our very public and very interconnected world has made it easy for celebrities and noncelebrities alike to memorialize private acts in a very public way. Reality TV footage and social media posts are already changing what counts as legal evidence as courts grapple with just how “real” it all is. It’s still unclear whether society’s penchant for voyeurism – and the way we now live our lives so publicly – will have an effect on how we behave outside the courthouse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shontavia Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Should reality stars be warned that everything they say can and will be used against them in a court of law? Turns out, it’s complicated.Shontavia Johnson, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Drake UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/666012016-10-10T15:24:26Z2016-10-10T15:24:26ZBritain’s obsession with secrecy goes back to the Tudors and Stuarts – and is still at work today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141087/original/image-20161010-3909-wsic86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C426%2C2768%2C2001&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thomas Cromwell, a man who definitely knew what you did last summer.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cromwell,Thomas(1EEssex)01.jpg">Hans Holbein the Younger/National Portrait Gallery</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The secret services are recruiting – you may have seen advertisements seeking linguists or computer specialists placed by MI5 and MI6 in respectable publications. This is quite a change from the official position that they <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29938135">didn’t exist</a> maintained as recently as 20 years ago. </p>
<p>While these organisations’ origins lie <a href="https://www.sis.gov.uk/our-history.html">in the world wars of the 20th century</a>, we can trace their signature features back to the 16th and 17th centuries. And in doing so we find that many of the problems they face today – plots, terrorism, political unrest and foreign interference – would be very familiar to the spies and spymasters of the earlier era – such as Thomas Cromwell, for example, Henry VIII’s spymaster whose life forms the story of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02gfy02">Wolf Hall</a>.</p>
<p>Living as we do in the age of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, we also find at that time similar tensions between the needs of the “secret state” and the demands of the growing public sphere.</p>
<h2>An early modern interest in secrecy</h2>
<p>Unquestionably, governments in the early modern era were always keen to cultivate an air of mystery. The arcane nature of ruling was seen as a natural part of an elite skill set – this suggestion of innate superiority obviously appealed to those in power. </p>
<p>Government secret actions, as journalist and pamphlateer Marchamont Nedham argued in his 1656 work <a href="http://www.constitution.org/cmt/nedham/free-state.htm">The Excellencie of a Free State</a>, was made up of “things … of a nature remote from ordinary apprehensions”. This way of framing the debate allowed governing to appear both mysterious and a skillful art outside the norms of life. These were, James Stuart himself <a href="http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oseo/instance.00032042">noted</a>, “no themes or subjects fit for vulgar persons or common meetings”. As “subjects” the role of the people in the early modern state was to “contain themselves within that modest and reverent regard of matters above their calling”. They might not have had an actual Official Secrets Act hanging over their head, but the people were certainly meant to know their place.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=992&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1246&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/141108/original/image-20161010-3906-xhn1pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1246&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spilling the beans, 17th-century style.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And therein lay the tension which we can perhaps sympathise with today. Because just as governments developed their <em>arcana imperii</em>, or secrets of state, outside in the world a new landscape of media thronged with reams of printed newspapers, pamphlets and books, while in <a href="https://theconversation.com/coffee-shops-the-hangout-of-choice-for-the-hipsters-of-the-18th-century-43943">coffee houses political gossip and whispered knowledge flourished</a> – of politicians, but also of the state’s secret affairs. </p>
<p>It was feared that were state matters discussed widely this would weaken the doctrine of secrecy, perhaps even dispelling the “magic” of government and dissolving the boundaries between rulers and ruled. Given our world of endless speculation on social media, and the British government’s resistance to revealing anything at all about the workings of government throughout much of the 20th century, this should sound very familiar.</p>
<h2>Dark arts</h2>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the secret-state approach also provided a natural base from which to operate clandestine activities. Here we find many of the same activities used today. Spies and informers, and infiltration by foreign agents – such as William Gregg, who sold secrets to France before he was caught, tried and hanged in 1708. Political kidnapping was known on occasion, and political assassination, while rare, included serious attempts on <a href="http://www.elizabethfiles.com/plots-against-elizabeth-i/3509/">Elizabeth I</a>, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/overview_civil_war_revolution_01.shtml">Stuart kings</a> and Oliver Cromwell – the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/z3hq7ty">Gunpowder Plot of 1605</a> against James I is the most notable example. </p>
<p>The interception of post was common. As with the myth in modern times of the UK’s GCHQ, it was alleged that hardly any letter was safe. In 1649, for example, Cromwell’s regime: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Authorised [its officers] to open and view all such letters or pacquets as you or they shall conceave may conteyne in them any matter or thing prejudicial to the Commonwealth. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The uncovering of plots and conspiracies were regularly publicised (some of them were even true). Like the blossoming conspiracy theories of today, at that time even the Great Fire of London was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/great_fire_01.shtml">blamed on a Franco-Popish Plot</a>. Writer and poet John Dryden later noted: “Plots, true or false, are necessary things, To raise up commonwealths, and ruin kings”. It is a sentiment that is still true today.</p>
<p>Modern electronics aside, the covert practices of today had their parallels in the early modern state. Governments would cheerfully justify their use, while an increasingly open and demanding public would respond with moral outrage if their use was discovered. Even in the 16th and 17th centuries the government’s philosophical justifications were emerging: the practicalities of politics and foreign affairs were more than enough justification to cast spying and subterfuge as statecraft’s necessary evil, and even to proclaim its virtues in respect of the need to protect the then newly formed British nation. Again, it is a justification still familiar today.</p>
<p>A tension developed between state – which suspected and feared the very idea of the public and its opinions, and which considered espionage, suppression and censorship as vital – and the press and public sphere, which sought to know not only how but also why decisions were made on their behalf, and who stood to gain from them. Commentators of the time fondly imagined that knowing this would illuminate how things were done, and “the Great Ministers of State … [would be] … presented naked, their consultations, designs, policies, the things done by them … exposed to every man’s eye”. Having laid the foundations for 400 years of state secrecy, it is a wish that is as true today as it was then – and one that is as unlikely to be fulfilled.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66601/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Marshall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Look back centuries ago and you’ll find the same obsessive secrecy, and the same justifications, as seen today.Alan Marshall, Associate Professor in History, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631702016-09-02T01:31:17Z2016-09-02T01:31:17ZHow civic intelligence can teach what it means to be a citizen<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136365/original/image-20160901-1018-1tuu5oc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What does it mean to be a citizen in today's world?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christopher Kennedy / Cassie Thornton</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This political season, citizens will be determining who will represent them in the government. This, of course, includes deciding who will be the next president, but also who will serve in thousands of less prominent positions.</p>
<p>But is voting the only job of a citizen? And if there are others, what are they? Who decides who will do the other jobs – and how they should be done?</p>
<p>The concept of “civic intelligence” tries to address such questions. </p>
<p>I’ve been researching and teaching the concept of “civic intelligence” for over 15 years. Civic intelligence can help us understand how decisions in democratic societies are made now and, more importantly, how they could be made in the future. </p>
<p>For example, my students and I used civic intelligence as the focus for <a href="http://www.sigeneration.ca/civic-intelligence-university-college/">comparing colleges and universities</a>. We wanted to see how well schools helped educate their students for civic engagement and social innovation and how well the schools themselves supported this work within the broader community.</p>
<p>My students also practiced civic intelligence, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691180122844">as the best way of learning it</a> is through <a href="https://sites.evergreen.edu/ciral/">“real world” projects</a> such as developing a community garden at a high school for incarcerated youth.</p>
<p>So what is civic intelligence? And why does it matter?</p>
<h2>Understanding civic intelligence</h2>
<p>Civic intelligence describes what happens when people work together to address problems efficiently and equitably. It’s a wide-ranging concept that shows how positive change happens. It can be applied anywhere – from the local to the global – and could take many forms. </p>
<p>For example, civic intelligence was seen in practice when representatives of the world’s governments created and unanimously approved a global action plan last year in Paris. While climate change remains an immense threat, this global cooperation involving years of dedicated debate and discussion produced a common <a href="http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php">framework for action</a> for worldwide reduction of greenhouse gases. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136343/original/image-20160901-1048-i4ft86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136343/original/image-20160901-1048-i4ft86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136343/original/image-20160901-1048-i4ft86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136343/original/image-20160901-1048-i4ft86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136343/original/image-20160901-1048-i4ft86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136343/original/image-20160901-1048-i4ft86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136343/original/image-20160901-1048-i4ft86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Civic intelligence describes when people work together to address problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/takver/3622617318/in/photolist-6w7RVh-22rMwT-p6vQv5-fC94R9-dAiydt-LPF71-oTiK86-bDWXTo-hVJ9yu-pfefA5-paM5Yb-6PhbRy-oTjh2m-7dDPv9-paxq1B-6Pd2Yg-7cQo9g-7dzWk4-4DuHgU-FGYcjA-3igNze-bnTrMV-7ox1i4-eiwixk-cy9gio-beSdZv-qKtPES-papexP-6PcYXZ-6Pd1Y2-hE5oza-eiC5SU-beS8nX-7dzWkz-9vDcCg-6Phd3q-6PhbLW-dYfV7e-qJFKup-bnTaae-6PhaDo-phghQZ-pTQYNY-8XBPhB-7dDQuW-6PhcF5-7dzWqV-q2Fmvw-bnRN4F-pMRbgo#undefined">Takver</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another example is that of mayors around the world establishing networks such as the <a href="http://www.globalparliamentofmayors.org/">Global Parliament of Mayors</a> to bring elected officials together on a regular basis to discuss issues facing cities, such as housing, transportation and air quality. One of these networks, the <a href="http://www.c40.org/">C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group</a>, was launched when representatives of the world’s 40 largest cities wanted to collaborate to address climate change. </p>
<p>Similarly, millions of researchers, teachers, artists, other individuals and NGOs worldwide are working to <a href="http://beautifultrouble.org/">improve their cities and communities</a>. These efforts are amazingly diverse. </p>
<p>In one such case, groups of church members and others from the community in Olympia, Washington, worked for several years with homeless people and families to develop affordable <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/garden/small-world-big-idea.html">housing solutions</a>. And in Brooklyn, a group of young people started an experimental <a href="http://christopherleekennedy.com/portfolio/schoolofthefuture/">School of the Future</a> to develop their ideas on what schools could or should be.</p>
<h2>What’s the history?</h2>
<p>The term “civic intelligence” was first used in English in 1898 by an American clergyman <a href="http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/%7Eppennock/doc-JStrong.htm">Josiah Strong</a> in his book <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fR6OAAAAMAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Twentieth+Century+City+josiah+strong&ots=_BDpkUBaSj&sig=NEpjSoRe0onzLKwu9ET72alxSAI#v=onepage&q=Twentieth%20Century%20City%20josiah%20strong&f=false">“The Twentieth Century City”</a> when he wrote of a “dawning social self-consciousness.” </p>
<p>Untold numbers of people have been thinking and practicing civic intelligence without using the term. A brief look at some notable efforts reveals some historic approaches to its broader vision. Let’s take a few:</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136345/original/image-20160901-1054-ubr0h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136345/original/image-20160901-1054-ubr0h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136345/original/image-20160901-1054-ubr0h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136345/original/image-20160901-1054-ubr0h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136345/original/image-20160901-1054-ubr0h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136345/original/image-20160901-1054-ubr0h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136345/original/image-20160901-1054-ubr0h1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bluebike/3289684972/in/photolist-61GuJq-8N3NCi-8Kb4Jh-8N6Tjf-aywgMt-8N6T2Y-nAqd5g-amT8gk-8N6Szm-8N6RYJ-ieCYbh-8N6SJ7-8N3MrP-8N3P44-6bnMvX-8N6TrY-8N6SSG-8N3PcB-fkWi7L-eeoJ8r-nv4Gts-eZmYdw-eeusAf-cunx6S-cunzM7-cunCu7-8N3NVV-cunLVu-cunRy7-feRPRM-8N3NMi-8N6Rxs-fkWidh-cunyAG-cunJkL-cunwq3-cunGNy-8N6S8y-qpjmP-cunN3C-8N6RFS-cunNNL-e6ES4W-8N3NdR-cunEHs-eZmZ9d-abkUB4-eZmYs7-e95Cvz-eZaBMv#undefined">Laurie Chipps</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/dewey/">John Dewey</a>, the prominent social scientist, educator and public intellectual, was absorbed for much of his long professional life with understanding how people pool their knowledge to address the issues facing them.</p></li>
<li><p>The American activist and reformer <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1931/addams-bio.html">Jane Addams</a>, who in 1889 cofounded the <a href="https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/hullhouse.html">Hull House</a> in Chicago, which housed recent immigrants from Europe, pioneered scores of civically intelligent efforts. These included free lectures on current events, Chicago’s first public playground and a wide range of cultural, political and community research activities.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Civic intelligence today</h2>
<p>There are more contemporary approaches as well. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Sociologist <a href="https://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/xavier-de-souza-briggs">Xavier de Souza Briggs’</a> research on how people from around the world have integrated the efforts of civil society, grassroots organizations and government to <a href="http://www.envisionutah.org/">create sustainable communities</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>With a slightly different lens, researcher <a href="http://ced.berkeley.edu/ced/faculty-staff/jason-corburn">Jason Corburn</a> has examined how “ordinary” people in economically underprivileged neighborhoods have used “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/street-science">Street Science</a>” to understand and reduce disease and environmental degradation in their communities.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2009/ostrom-facts.html">Elinor Ostrom</a>, recently awarded the Nobel Prize in economics, has studied how groups of people from various times and places <a href="http://publicsphereproject.org/content/commons">managed resources</a> such as fishing grounds, woodlots and pastures by working together collectively to preserve the livelihoods’ sources for future generations. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Making use of civic intelligence</h2>
<p>Civic intelligence is generally an attribute of groups. It’s a collective capability to think and work together. </p>
<p>Advocates and practitioners of civic intelligence (as well as many others) note that the <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v497/n7447/full/nature12047.html">risks of the 21st century</a>, which include climate change, environmental destruction and overpopulation, are quantitatively and qualitatively unlike the risks of prior times. They hypothesize that these risks are unlikely to be addressed satisfactorily by government and other leaders without substantial <a href="http://www.sasquatchbooks.com/book/?isbn=9781632170446&becoming-a-citizen-activist-by-nick-licata">citizen engagement</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136347/original/image-20160901-1015-ee4s9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136347/original/image-20160901-1015-ee4s9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136347/original/image-20160901-1015-ee4s9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136347/original/image-20160901-1015-ee4s9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136347/original/image-20160901-1015-ee4s9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136347/original/image-20160901-1015-ee4s9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136347/original/image-20160901-1015-ee4s9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Civic intelligence reminds us that citizens assume responsibility.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gonzale/114789366/in/photolist-b9jT1-ssqFm-dbSRhN-9jfjhW-j7SAL-8aB4nm-afbvDL-rTDrN3-dbSRnw-eZkvSP-9eYtRd-ssqFi-8V9owj-9eVmcP-ekeRfq-6RxJ1-brER4X-eZwRS9-jz5AZ2-8Xzd7L-9TxxBq-fNzLYc-jFu2zx-pszrGP-eZwRR3-nBY34r-ssqFk-rRSuGc-9jZurN-cp9TC-6nQ7ci-agXH4R-dbSQrk-Ac71L8-9eYsUQ-9eVm2x-aAwsaz-eZkvNi-9jZyYo-iW5E8E-9jWvsD-p8TFs-Ac79Nv-eZkvP8-ji6ZM-dbSQXf-9jZyQo-bmjPDo-9eLbaM-cqGEJd#undefined">Gonzale</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They argue that with or without formal invitations, the citizen must assume more responsibility for the state of the world, especially since in some cases the leaders themselves are <a href="https://www.transparency.org/what-is-corruption/">part of the problem</a>.</p>
<p>“Ordinary” people could bring <a href="http://ldm.sagepub.com/content/11/5/518.short">many civic skills</a> to the public sphere, such as innovation, compassion and <a href="http://publicsphereproject.org/content/everyday-heroism">heroism</a> that are indispensable to the decision-making processes.</p>
<p>That is what brought about changes such as <a href="http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic446176.files/Week_7/Keck_and_Sikkink_Transnational_Advocacy.pdf">human rights, overturning slavery and the environmental movement</a>. These were initiated not by businesses or governments, but by ordinary people. </p>
<h2>Twenty-first century civics</h2>
<p>The civics classes that are required in the public schools mostly focus on conventional political processes. They might teach about governance in a more conventional way, such as how many senators there are (100) or how long their terms are (six years). But self-governance needs <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-wrong-with-americas-civic-education-56854">more than that</a>.</p>
<p>At a basic level, “governance” happens when neighborhood groups, nonprofit organizations or a few friends come together to help address a shared concern.</p>
<p>Their work can take many forms, including writing, developing websites, organizing events or demonstrations, petitioning, starting organizations and, even, performing tasks that are usually thought of as “jobs for the government.” </p>
<p>And sometimes “governance” could even mean breaking some rules, possibly leading to far-reaching reforms. For example, without civil disobedience, the U.S. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle_boston1774.html">might still be a British colony</a>. And African-Americans might still be <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/rosa-parks/">forced to ride in the back of the bus</a>.</p>
<p>As a discipline, civic intelligence provides a broad focus that incorporates ideas and findings from many fields of study. It involves people from all walks of life, different cultures and circumstances. </p>
<p>A focus on civic intelligence could lead directly to social engagement. I believe <a href="http://publicsphereproject.org/sites/default/files/SpandaJournal_VI,1_Schuler.pdf">understanding civic intelligence</a> could help address the challenges we must face today and tomorrow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63170/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Douglas Schuler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Civic intelligence describes what happens when people work together to address problems efficiently and equitably. It could help address many societal challenges.Douglas Schuler, Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, Evergreen State CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.