Re: [kictanet] Do social media threaten democracy? - Scandal, outrage and politics

Barrack Not at all! In fact the printing press and other 'mass media' are becoming almost irrelevant in the scheme of things...Think of the 'Twitter Diplomacy' that is now the Hallmark of the Trump Presidency. My concerns are simply that by us (and I mean Kenya in particular and Africa in general) ignoring to put in place solid policies on how to engage in this new era we are living ourselves vulnerable to the vagaries of the Internet. On one hand we have positive influencers and the other negative influencers and in between you have governments that at best are incompetent to handle the *New Normal* and at worst reactionary and unleashing a hammer where a surgeon's scalpel would have been more appropriate. Regards *Ali Hussein* *Principal* *Hussein & Associates* Tel: +254 713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> 13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing, Chiromo Road, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya. Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with. On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 7:29 AM, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Ali,
Are you suggesting that we blame the printing press for propaganda and mwakenya's? , the answer is no, people are always the problem, technology is just a medium. History is never complete without tells of people who solved puzzles and cracked codes to secure victory over their competitors. As Frenchman Jean Baptise Alphonse Karr The more things change the more they remain the same (plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose :-))
On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 4:01 AM, Ali Hussein via kictanet < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers
An interesting article from the economist.
Facebook, Google and Twitter were supposed to save politics as good information drove out prejudice and falsehood. Something has gone very wrong
Read on:-
https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21730871-facebook- google-and-twitter-were-supposed-save-politics-good-information-drove-out
What are your thoughts from a local perspective?
After one of the most highly contentious electioneering periods in Kenya’s history some hard questions need to be asked.
1. Is Ezekiel Mutua after all a visionary in his assertions about Social Media? 2. Have we allowed ourselves to be further divided by these platforms instead of using them to bring us closer together? 3, Have we allowed politicians and other influencers to literally take our freedoms to do what’s right? 4, Shouldn’t the whole world - State and Non-State Players - have taken Internet Governance (especially the Third Party Liability conversation) more seriously? 5. Is it too late to redeem ourselves?
These and more are important issues to ponder.
Regards
*Ali Hussein* *Principal* *Hussein & Associates* +254 0713 601113 <0713%20601113>
Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle
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Ali Hussein