Fall of Liberal democracy

The world’s social development has all the signs of a person with Dissociative personality disorder, all the kinks of a child that was used and abused and now trying to cope with its past by developing two distinct personalities. We have the worlds original personality, a tribal state in which everything is neatly ordered and separated but conflicts constantly and a new persona, a fast paced, fast moving, globalizing shared network of a world. However, as in the movie Identity, when these personalities meet and conflict, only one outcome is possible, a personality dies. In his book, Jihad vs. McWorld, Benjamin R Barber looks at the economic aspect of this conflict as well as its cultural relevance. I will look more closely into the technological aspect of this conflict, the internet and spread of information. For it is in this arena I believe liberal democracy will either fail and be replaced, or be reborn from the ashes and rise to a greater power.
Technology: Friend or Enemy
I may be a bit unfair in calling technology an enemy. It has many positive uses, it transmits information to anyone in the world faster, it allows access to data that may never have been seen, it draws the world closer together in understanding. The problem with technology is not technology, it is its lack of regulation and the control McWorld has taken over it. “As we have already noticed, the market has no particular interest in the civic possibilities of technology – unless they can generate a respectable profit” (Barber 270). McWorld, or the market of globalization as I wish to truly call it, has only one goal in mind, profit. It cares not about the people that make up its market, only how to get people to consume its product to turn a buck as the saying goes. So what does this mean, is technology, a giant that could make decisions easier, allow people to have information on the processes going on in their world and nation so they can be well informed when voting, or even up rise to have the power to vote, or is it a digital demon, gathering information on how people shop, through the use of ad-ware virus’ that watch which websites you visit so they can send you pop-ups that will make you buy products, steal your information and your identity, bombard you with images of things you wouldn’t normally be privileged to because of the immorality of it all. I am inclined to see it as the latter, a digital demon that steals the very individuality that we desperately need.
There is truly only one viable “holy water” for this demon, it is our governments. The very institutions that we pay or owe sovereignty to, in exchange for protection, are not doing their jobs in this new structure. This isn’t new though, the demon of technology has existed for nearly a century in America. “The Federal Commission Ac of 1934 promised to ‘encourage the larger and more effective use of radio in the public interest’… the ‘public airwaves’ are auctioned off to private vendors who sell them back at exorbitant rates to the public” (Barber 272). Where is our liberal democracy in this, our protectors from such actions? They are backing slowly away from regulating such demons and leaving them to McWorld. The market controls these demons and is amp to let them run rampart, as long as the market is turning a buck.
What solution is there in such a mess? What can a citizen do when their government listens to a very different set of pleas? We demand less regulation from our government in a liberal democracy because we believe it doesn’t have a right to censor what we can be privy to. There is no direct physical harm and so the government cannot really come into protect us. So as we become more and more enthralled into the technology demons that surround us, and as we forget their very nature, we lose ourselves to them. How many hours does a person spend online? How many of those are doing something that is informative and constructive. I do not know any actual numbers but as a net junkie myself… I can presume it isn’t many. With sites such as face book, MySpace, and the new advent of twitter, we socialize with people more often, but alone. No longer are people in the community talking and participating in local events because the people they wish to talk to are also in front of a computer. The technology demons have stolen our identities and our citizenship. However there may be hope if anyone will open Barbers book and take a look.
For these demons to become smaller and eventually turned into angels, we must make technology a civic system. Join 4-h clubs or YMCA’s that allow us to participate face to face and within the community and use the internet to set up these events so that everyone can be informed. Censor the mindless dribble that exists on the internet. I don’t believe we need to have websites devoted solely to timers that count how long you are on the webpage (yes it exists, http://www.online-stopwatch.com/). “Harry C. Boyte and other supporters of renewed citizenship have argued that we learn to be citizens not first in politics but in the ‘free spaces’ of school, church, 4-H club, and YMCA” (Barber 276).
Tribalism’s’ Role
The old face of our world, a past persona that is regaining its strength. What hope does it have to achieve in the new McWorld. Tribalism may be the key to unlocking McWorld’s greatest potential as not a market force but a way to create an international civic society. It may appear odd that such a diverse and sectionalized system as tribalism is the solution but it has a great potential to bend McWorld. Tribalism accepts the technology growth and the spread of information but without the glamour of consumerism. A grand example although a horror in and of itself is Al-Qaeda’s use of the internet and media to portray its messages. We don’t see any product placement, no corporation trying to get us to buy a product. We see a group that is discontent using technology as a civic means. It may not be the best way to use technology civically, but it did get its point across. Americans paid attention to it, and we did so without a market being involved for a product or profit. Technology therefore has the potential for civic use, and has been used as such but from where? Not our fast paced, fast food, fast everything McWorld, but from a world steeped in culture, and history, a tribal world. Liberal democracy has failed to do what a terrorist organization was capable of doing. It took over the demons of technology and used them to foreword its own good. I do not advocate the purpose behind what they have done by no means. It is horrible to kill people to get a point across, but by the means in which it was done, I applaud. Using the very demons of a world they are battling to show everyone what it has done and get the message that they won’t accept it anymore. That is what true civic duty is, to rise up against the oppressive forces and take control to better your society. How did tribalism have such success in this? I believe it is because tribalism instills a sense of civic duty into its people. Most of the time this duty is in the form of military but in a peaceful tribal state, could it not also be used to create a better paradise, to exchange information without being forced to buy anything, or have parts of your very self be stolen away from you. Public airwaves exist in most of these tribal states, by public I mean government controlled airwaves that display what the government believes is proper. In the hands of America this system could be a way for civilians to express their own sense of being to the world.
How then can the two be infused, tribalism’s grasp over the demons of technology and liberal democracies individuality, justice, and freedom. What does a liberal democracy have going for it? It has the people, the morals and the means to be a very powerful civic force. It portrays justice, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What does tribalism hold for itself? It has the control, the will, and the civic duty. What is needed to create a synthesis of these ideals into something better? A society that is free, and just, but with a governmental power that will regulate, protect, and instill civic duty, this seems to be improbable, how you can be free and regulated, as well as just but protected. The only feasible route is to use tribalism to instill civic duty and transform that sense of civic duty into a way that people want to be protected from and regulate the technology demons. This is neither tribalism in nature, nor that of a liberal democracy; it is something different, new, and necessary. Democracy needs a new face, and this face can only come from a synthesis of these conflicting worlds.