Reciprocity and Online Activism - The Internet

The internet is an amazing thing for oh so many reasons. It's changed the way we connect with each other, the way we find out our information, the way we seek entertainment, the way we share our lives with each other. But it is also changing the political climate. The citizens used to look towards the government/state/politicians for their grievances and concerns in order to resolve political issues - but now we are beginning to become more and more cynical of politicians and those in power. Nobody seems to like a politician these days, nobody seems to trust them. But if we can't trust the people who are keeping our nation in check - then who can we trust?

As James Crabtree notes: "The political potential of the internet lies not in connecting people to politicians [but] in the possibility of bringing citizens together to help themselves." Essentially, Crabtree is illustrating the benefits of internet allowing mutual aid through the citizens rather than through the state. This made me realise that this is actually a very large part of the internet. People seeking help go to the internet to ask people for answers. I know that whenever I need help, I google some forums and read up on what people have to say - and I take that advice to be much more genuine. When I was looking to get a new phone (my first smartphone) I was not very interested in looking for the reviews/videos made by the phone company themselves but more so in people who had the phones, or third parties who reviewed the phones who are seemingly much more unbiased. This seems more authentic because it is from people who are like us. It has always amazed me why people go to the effort of giving people advice. It is amazing the sheer amount of information available at the tip of our fingers. The number of youtube unboxing videos, the number of painstakingly long and detailed blogs explaining how to fix/improve something, the number of people who with no real advantage to themselves write back on forums to help people out is just really extraordinary.


It is based on the "principle of reciprocity" - they do it with the belief that "If I scratch your back, this will create a system in which back scratching is the norm, and when I need my back scratched, someone will do it for me." I really like that concept. However, it makes me feel pretty bad because the number of times I had sought help on the internet (about 10000) compared to the number of times I have actually helped someone I didn't know on the internet (about 2) is pretty dismal. Still, there are always people willing to help - and they are usually much better to ask than actually trying to contact say, the manufacturer of the phone company. This is because we as citizens are generally interested in the same kind of things, getting the most of our products, learning how to fix our problems, etc etc. The people who make the phones are more so interested in selling more phones, money is probably a much bigger priority to them.


This brings me to my next point which is in relation to the article in the New Yorker about Julian Assange and Wikileaks. It is a very fascinating concept and I will have to admit I did not know very much about Wikileaks before this. I believe that exposing the secrets and controversial issues which are kept hidden from us through the use of hacking is a topic with many grey areas when it comes to ethics. I think it is important that when doing this kind of online activism, it should be done with the same interests in mind as the ordinary citizens. It should be to help each other, to bring awareness, to help ourselves and our communities and not for personal power. There is a lot of room for this type of organisation to go very very wrong, but if kept in check - I think it is a great thing.


The government is monitoring us, but who monitors the government. Well, now, we are.