CAS272 Blog

Not all social movements tend to pan out – in fact, the majority of them don’t. The Tea Party movement of 2009 and onwards was no special exception. It all began in January, 2009, in the aftermath of one of America’s greatest recessions, when public support for the federal government’s economic policies was at a new low. The Right capitalized on this, organizing protests to vocalize their dissatisfaction and incite change across the country. As the New York Times summarized; “Organizers convened mass gatherings across the country called ‘tea parties,’ and they had a specific set of demands: Stop President Barack Obama’s health care law; tame the national deficit; and don’t let the government decide which parts of the economy are worth rescuing” (Peters). The cause was loose in nature, being composed of various local and national groups with differencing perspectives, and there was no form of central leadership. It was perceived largely as a grassroots movement, yet the amount of funding that came from Republican elites (such as billionaire David Koch) made this “community action” questionable, especially when the amount of money donated to the cause is still unknown.

A truly surprising fact is that this movement capitalized on social media to help spread its influence and gain support among the public, especially considering that social media hadn’t really taken off at the time. BBC writes, “Most of the original members met using Twitter. Their low-budget nationwide organizing was unthinkable in the days before Facebook, e-mail and free conference-calling” (Connolly). This usage allowed the movement to get as big as it did, big enough to the point in which regular media had to focus on them. It makes sense – an unsolidified mass of people in opposition of the government needs a platform to connect them all, and what better than an easily accessible social network that can do just that?

Something Eric Blane discusses in “Yes, Social Media Can Help With Real-World Organizing” is that “technological determinism overlooks a crucial fact: what matters is not just how much social media is being used by social movements but how it is being used,” meaning that even though the Tea Party Movement was popular on these platforms it did not mean they had considerable physical influence. Organizations such as Americans For Prosperity put out petitions that got 500,000 signatures in days, yet no actual change came of these petitions. The Tea Party Community, the organization’s alternative to Facebook, managed to reach 50,000 members and yet none of those members had any significant impact on politics. Thus, it wasn’t really an issue of public support but rather support in the organizations that could influence policy change.

The Tea Party Movement did not go out with a bang: it went out with a fizzle of false promises and unfulfilled constituent values under the Trump Administration. In 2016, Tea Party members thought their 7 years of protests, internet message spreading, and petitions would be answered – Trump promised to balance the budget, lower the national deficit, tax cuts, exactly what they wanted, and yet what actually came of it all? According to the New York Times, “Trillion-dollar deficits are back and on track to keep growing. The Affordable Care Act has never been repealed, and Republicans concede it may never be. When Congress approved $320 billion in new spending this month as part of its latest budget deal, most Republicans in the Senate voted yes…” (Peters). That was the last straw – when even Republicans wouldn’t meet their demands, the Tea Party had no one else to turn to. When Congress signed approval of that spending increase, they were signing the Tea Party’s death warrant.

With all this being said, just because the Tea Party movement failed does not mean it wasn’t influential. Republican candidates continue to side with Tea Party ideals, and as stated by the New York Times, “It ignited a revival of the politics of outrage and mistrust in government, breathing new life into the populist passions that continue to threaten the stability of both political parties” (Peters). Americans distrust their government more than ever, and they live in an age in which it is perfectly normal to not put their faith in the body that governs them and dictates all laws. Perhaps this publicly recognized lack of trust will call the government to action, most likely it will not, but regardless whatever direction America goes will be impacted by the Tea Party.

Sources:

About Eric Blanc Author of the books Revoluti, et al. “Yes, Social Media Can Help with Real-World Organizing.” The Forge, 8 Dec. 2021, https://forgeorganizing.org/article/yes-social-media-can-help-real-world-organizing.

Connolly, Katie. “What Exactly Is the Tea Party?” BBC News, BBC, 16 Sept. 2010, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11317202.

Peters, Jeremy W. “The Tea Party Didn’t Get What It Wanted, but It Did Unleash the Politics of Anger.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 Aug. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/us/politics/tea-party-trump.html.

This picture comes from the Russian Bolotnaya protest, a major part of the Snow Revolution that took place from December 4th, 2011, to May 6th, 2012, with the cause being centered around fraudulent Russian election practices. Originally the protests began as opposition to Vladmir Putin, who on December 10th, 2011 announced his intention to run for a third term. However, this cause changed over time to encompass much more than a singular individual – protestors came up with 5 main points that they were fighting for:

1. Freedom for political prisoners
2. Annulment of the election results
3. The resignation of Vladmir Churov (head of the Election Commission)
4. Registration of opposition parties and new democratic legislation parties and elections
5. New democratic and open elections

The effect of cell phones, and more prominently smartphones, on these protests were immense. For starters, without them organization would be a near impossibility – before Bolotnaya there were already struggles among organizers to agree on a place to protest, and once Bolotnaya was decided upon they then needed to spread word of the location, time, and date to their followers. Social media was largely responsible for delivering that message – according to the Moscow Times, “The rapid spread of social media made it possible for ordinary citizens to document abuses and later organize complex street protests online” (Moscow Times). Facebook in particular was incredibly beneficial, and through a simple Facebook event organized by an independent protestor the protest managed to gain over 20,000 RSVPs and many more actual attendees (far greater than what the 300-person permit allowed, meaning the protest was therefore “unlawful”). Phones had an impact on more than just organization, they were also what allowed the public to recognize the corruption of Russia’s election system. In “Political Demand and Moscow’s Middle Class Opposition,” Sasha de Vogel wrote, “they witnessed numerous violations, from carousel voting to the stuffing of ballot boxes, all of which well documented via cell phone cameras and posted online to dramatically demonstrate that the election had been rigged.” Phones weren’t just tools for protestors, they were directly responsible for the evidence that gave the protestors their cause.

However, the protestors weren’t solely benefitting from smart phones and social media – opposition to these protests began utilizing the same platforms to disrupt these protests, to throw a wrench in their digital gears. As stated by the New York Times, “The calls started coming in the afternoon and tied up phones for hours at the headquarters of at least two organizations strongly critical of the Kremlin. “Putin is life; Putin is the light; love Putin and your life will have meaning; Putin will give you happiness; Putin will open your eyes,” a woman’s ethereal voice chanted over and over and over” (Schwirtz). Through simply disabling the phones, both the Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta and anti-Putin Yabloko party were incapacitated and rendered useless to protestors. Social media fared no better – as the New York Times wrote, “Twitter posts about the protests were swamped by pro-government comments… quoting Internet security experts who said that many of the messages appeared to come from a network of hijacked computers, or a botnet” (Schwirtz). This is a very interesting point on its own – while it might not be the exact origin, this moment seems to be when Russian botnets started to have a considerable influence on social media through disinformation and false showings of support. Regardless, it goes to show that while protestors can make use of these vast online tools, so can the people they are protesting against.

Not all stories have a happy ending – none of the protestors’ demands were met, the main leaders of the movement were arrested, and Russia as we now know it still is undemocratic and corrupt. Still, the extent of the protests (and the effect of smartphones / the internet on them) has to be recognized, and they remain as proof of Russia’s many ongoing injustices.

Sources:

De Vogel, Sasha. “A Good Restaurant Is No Longer Enough: Political Demand and Moscow’s Middle Class Opposition.” Columbia University, 18 Apr. 2013, Accessed 11 Nov. 2022.

The Moscow Times. “10 Years since Bolotnaya, the Biggest Protests of the Putin Era.” The Moscow Times, The Moscow Times, 9 Dec. 2021, https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/12/09/10-years-since-bolotnaya-the-biggest-protests-of-the-putin-era-a75739.

Schwirtz, Michael. “Russia Allows Protest, but Tries to Discourage Attendance.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/world/europe/russia-allows-rally-but-discourages-attendance.html.

Political memes are both amusing and an excellent way to get public attention on an issue, or to convince others of a certain fact (even if that fact isn’t true). Take this wonderful image above, for example. During the 2016 Presidential Election, Jeb Bush ran as a Republican candidate and was doing pretty well in the polls until Trump put in his official presidential bid. He was subsequently crushed, and faded into obscurity very soon afterwards, but during that time of utter defeat this meme was created. It shows Jeb holding out his arms in a grand, powerful way while the background shows that he managed to obtain all 538 electoral college votes, leaving both Trump and Clinton with 0. Of course this has no chance of happening in reality, but the absurdity of it all combined with Jeb’s weakness as a candidate made this meme go viral on online message boards and social media platforms such as Reddit. While at its core this meme serves to solely be comedic, people are more likely to remember interesting or funny things that stood out to them rather than any drab information-only material, and thus the level of persuasion this meme has on the individual is immense.

Memes like this also tie directly into concepts such as issue salience, which in this instance relates to its level of importance / sway on the individual. It highlights Jeb as a candidate. If one saw the meme above and had no knowledge of who was doing well in the polls, chances are (at least temporarily) that individual would be swayed to believe Jeb was killing it in the polls, or at least had a high chance of winning, which in reality he clearly did not. This hold over the viewer is something that comes with untold consequences – perhaps the viewer shows it to a friend, or if it comes up conversation they say that they heard Jeb was doing very well, and others could potentially believe that fact based upon the level of trust they put into the individual. This repeats, and the idea spreads. Thus, through a simple meme that takes a second to comprehend, the creator has achieved a network of individuals who think of Jeb positively, and this belief could go on to cause actual change in the polls. Similarly, this meme also heavily relates to the gateway effect as through the image’s effectiveness as a medium of humor the general public, especially those who aren’t interested in politics, can be influenced to care more solely due to the entertainment factor.

But that isn’t all – this meme has gone on to act as a base for others, with the above examples pertaining to the 2017 UK Election and the 2017 French Presidential Election, meaning that while Jeb’s era has ended his likeness has continued to be spread across the internet for better or for worse. The effects of such memes should be noted – they act as a callback for viewers, centering the public eye on Jeb and his present happenings, or they influence public belief towards new subjects, etc. Most importantly however, they get people to laugh, as every good meme should.

Source:

“Jeb Wins / Jeb Bush Flawless Victory.” Know Your Meme, 5 Oct. 2022, https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/jeb-wins-jeb-bush-flawless-victory.

Agenda setting, or the influence of the media on what individuals see and therefore what they believe to be important (or the truth), has become more prevalent than ever in this age of information. With the addition of social media and thus many different accessible and constant streams of information, what we see is what defines our beliefs and directs our focus as a whole. A modern issue that directly showcases the effects of such agenda setting is the Ukraine-Russia Conflict, and the discrepancies we see between media sources of foreign nations and our own.

When one looks at a source like The New York Times, the second article on the main page is “Fire and Fear in South Ukraine,” a first-hand account from New York Times photographers and journalists who are following Ukrainian firefighters amidst the conflict. The article closely follows the destruction Russia has inflicted, interviewing victims and painting a devastating picture of the war’s effects through intense, emotionally stirring images. By having this article be one of the first things New York Times readers see, it keeps the conflict at the forefront of their minds and causes them to believe it holds more importance in their daily lives than it actually does – except in special circumstances, most people aren’t personally affected by the conflict and the only consequence they might face is slightly worsened economic conditions.

At the same time, TASS (one of the most popular Russian media outlets) has a vastly different look – the main page is full of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s triumphs and benefits that it is bringing to the Eurasian people, therefore setting the agenda that these benefits are the most important thing Russian citizens should be focused on. Only if one scrolls down far enough, or heads into the politics tab, is the Ukraine conflict even mentioned – even then, the perspective is pro-Russian one like the article “Russia to do everything to end the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible, Putin assures Modi” or “Putin warns the West of ‘economic egoism’, offers real food aid to emerging economies” (in regards to the sanctions imposed on Russia amidst the conflict). There is of course no mention of the tragedy befalling Ukrainian civilians, and Russia is the one uncontestably in the right.

The agenda has been set on both sides – with the U.S., the focus is put on the suffering of the Ukrainians, with Russia, the focus is put on how great everything is and the evils of nations interfering in the conflict. The citizens of the respective countries are the ones subsequently being influenced to their respective beliefs, and unless they attempt to view sources outside of their own country (resulting in cognitive dissonance, which most will not willingly choose to do) what they perceive as the truth is what they are being fed by the media.

One can only wonder – if everyone from every nation saw factual, unbiased, and balanced amounts of news, would there still be this level of conflict today?

Sources:

Berehulak, Daniel, and Michael Schwirtz. “Fire and Fear in South Ukraine.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Sept. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/16/world/europe/mykolaiv-ukraine-firefighters-russia.html.

“Putin Warns West against ‘Economic Egoism’, Offers Real Food Aid to Emerging Economies.” TASS, https://tass.com/politics/1508589.

“Russia to Do Everything to End Conflict in Ukraine as Soon as Possible, Putin Assures Modi.” TASS, https://tass.com/russia/1508771.