[open-government] [sunlightlabs] Civility Online - A Proposal

Wed Jan 12 19:29:27 UTC 2011

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 7:19 PM, Steven Clift <clift at e-democracy.org> wrote:
> P.S. Something I wrote in 2003 has sadly come true:
> http://stevenclift.com/?p=108
> ...
>
> After a decade working directly with e-democracy issues, I’ve
> concluded that “politics as usual” online may be the tipping point
> that finishes off what television started – the extinction of
> democracy and democratic spirit.
>
> Those hoping for an almost accidental democratic transformation
> fostered by the information technology will watch in shock from the
> sidelines as their favorite new medium becomes the arsenal of virtual
> civil war – virtual civil wars among partisans at all levels.
>
> When I open e-mail from all sorts of American political parties and
> activist groups, I see conflict. I see unwillingness to compromise.
>
> Let’s be optimists and suggest that the Net is doubling the activist
> population from five percent to ten percent. The harsh reality is that
> we are doubling the virtual soldiers, an expendable slash and burn
> online force, available to established political interests.
>
> As the excessive and bitter partisanship of the increased activist
> population leaks into the e-mail boxes of everyday people, I predict
> abhorrence of Net-era politics among the general citizenry. I fear the
> extreme erosion of public trust not just in government, but also in
> most things public and political.
>
> Instead of encouraging networked citizen participation that improves
> the public results delivered in our democracies, left to its natural
> path, the Internet will be used to eliminate forms of constructive
> civic engagement by the other 90 percent of citizens. A 10 percent
> democracy of warring partisan is no democracy at all.

As someone who's been acutely aware of these issues, the nature
thereof, I have to say that this pessimistic view is in progress of
being superseeded by followers of open-source paradigms.  You don't
hear about it because you've self-selected your view:  the new
paradigm can't fight itself into your awareness -- that's the old
paradigm techinique for gathering attention and power.  So it works
quietly behind the scenes slowly accumulating support for a vision
compelling enough for others to choose it without coercion.  You have
to choose to believe it or not.   See pangaia.sourceforge.net.

marcos