It seems like ages since I have last posted a new entry (well, about a couple months is more like it). Anyways I’m putting my rusty keyboard back to work as the deadline for a paper on public relations and blogs is approaching. And what is more appropriate to explore the subject than blogging about it, right? Here, though, I’ll try exploring it from a political point of view since I’d better not be controversial or sarcastic in my research paper.
Had Shakespeare lived in our public-oriented, technology-laden, twenty-first century, he might have been quoted as writing “to blog or not to blog: that is the question”. Indeed, blogging has become synonymous with many individuals’ existence. Almost like an avatar that reflects your moods, interests, opinions, etc. And since corporations and governments have been showing growing interest in public-anything, such as public relations and public opinion, these virtual podiums readily find an eager audience. A daily dose of democracy, you can call it. But then what does that say about governments that block access to popular weblog sites after detaining a number of bloggers? Stories of particular Syrian and Iranian bloggers come to mind here. Does that mean that these governments are uninterested in practicing democracy, God forbid?
Purely for the sake of maintaining some kind of faith in our leaders, I’m going to revert to optimistic romanticism. So I’m going to go ahead and assume that those governments and leaders are taking the advice of Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria in his book “The Future of Freedom, Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad”, where he argues that the proper way for developing countries to eventually enjoy the fruits of liberal democracy is for their governments to rule with an iron fist in the initial phase until capital markets are strong enough to eventually demand democracy.
Alas, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Had Shakespeare lived in our public-oriented, technology-laden, twenty-first century, he might have been quoted as writing “to blog or not to blog: that is the question”. Indeed, blogging has become synonymous with many individuals’ existence. Almost like an avatar that reflects your moods, interests, opinions, etc. And since corporations and governments have been showing growing interest in public-anything, such as public relations and public opinion, these virtual podiums readily find an eager audience. A daily dose of democracy, you can call it. But then what does that say about governments that block access to popular weblog sites after detaining a number of bloggers? Stories of particular Syrian and Iranian bloggers come to mind here. Does that mean that these governments are uninterested in practicing democracy, God forbid?
Purely for the sake of maintaining some kind of faith in our leaders, I’m going to revert to optimistic romanticism. So I’m going to go ahead and assume that those governments and leaders are taking the advice of Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria in his book “The Future of Freedom, Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad”, where he argues that the proper way for developing countries to eventually enjoy the fruits of liberal democracy is for their governments to rule with an iron fist in the initial phase until capital markets are strong enough to eventually demand democracy.
Alas, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.