How has the image of socialists changed in response to new kinds of media?

[elgranlocomotor]

I'm writing a paper about how the internet-- blogs, YouTube, forums, etc.-- has changed the image society has of socialists.

I'd love to get some quotes or references from anyone that has an opinion on this subject. Thank you!

[Drace]

It hasn't.


It has let socialists be able to share their ideas and create a community like Revleft. However, they don't receive much attention. For instance, Revleft is probably the largest leftist forum and we only have 18,000 members. Any leftist video on youtube hardly has any views. Also, with the size of the anti-leftist propaganda that exists on the internet, its has made minimal impact on the view of socialism. The anti-leftist attitude still exists widely.
The negative connotation of socialism pre-existed in massive amounts before the public use of the internet. After the internet was popular, theses masses transferred their anti-leftist ideas onto into places like Youtube, blogs, and forums. So the anti-leftist information to pro-leftist information ratio is still greatly unequal in the favor of the anti-leftists.

What class is that for? Were you assigned to specifically talk about socialists? It seems like a silly topic.

[mikelepore]

Now that the internet is here, as well as mail order CD and DVD distribution, it's up to us to start producing high quality educational material. We all have, or can easily acquire, computers, microphones, digital cameras, camcorders, audio editing software, video editing software. What's our excuse? We can begin at any time now. Lets combine our ideas and suggestions. Lets make a public archive of audio and video recordings (and I don't mean a junky, spammy site like youtube). Let's share technical advice about how to make the productions.

[Drace]

Agreed, but how do we get people to watch them?
And I'd say Youtube is still the best choice

[CELMX]

Yes, I also agree that Youtube would be very good, as there are a lot of youtube users. However, blogs, forums, etc. have also made socialism look worse and worse. For example, right-wing forums, and even ultra-right wing websites like stormfront have made socialism look horrible.

Right now, there needs to be much more cds, dvds, and websites, as mikelepore mentioned, for promoting/educating people about socialism and the like. There has been too much internet material going around making socialists look bad and greatly misusing that term, making it carry a negative connotation.

btw...youtube is not spammy and junky. It carries very good material, as well as bad. I have actually learned a lot about leftism from youtube, and techniques to get the word around. Youtube, and the internet, has played a large part in convincing me that socialism is a very viable means of organizing society/economy.

[elgranlocomotor]

A journalism class. I had to pick any one group of individuals (by race, gender, profession, etc.) and gauge how new media has changed people's perception of that group. Or hasn't, in this case.

Thank you for your help.

[RadioRaheem84]

http://www.thefreedomfactory.us/top-10-signs-you-are-a-socialist-andchallenged/


After extensive research we’ve concluded that these are the Top 10 Signs you just might be a Socialist:
1. You advocate for equality for all and yet you want to raise taxes on certain social classes.
2. You support the troops but do not support the war and you did not support the war in Iraq but now you support the war in Afghanistan. So… do you want war or not?
3. You believe in bigger Government and yet you advocate for the government not to run your life.
4. You think that we shouldn’t outsource labor and yet you complain about the rising cost of consumer goods.
5. You want the Government to take control and regulate all private businesses and yet you work for or own a privately owned business.
6. You want to get paid the same as everybody else, but the average income in the US is probably less than what you are making.
7. You think that the Government should spend more money to stimulate the economy when the Government has no money.
8. You think that the tax increase will not affect you.
9. You sit around and wait for the Government to “help” you.
10. You blame the economy for putting you in the situation that you are in even though you’ve been in the same situation for years.
When this is the typical belief of what socialism is, how are we supposed to negate this? Most of the time, this is the type of "serious" critique supposedly intelligent people in the media use when discussing the topic.

This is what people even on CNN, liberals, would ask us; "so bigger government will solve everything" ? If we were to tell them that that's not what socialism is about they would look at us like we're nuts or trying to deceive them. They've framed the debate to where real socialism, the kind socialists have been advocating all along isn't even discussed.

[Tatarin]

I think an interesting point is to look on the more esoteric sides of the internet media - try movies like Loose Change or others like them. What is interesting is not their points about conspiracies or higher forces, but their disdain for government as it is now. That there needs to be much bigger change to the system than simple elections. These are the videos that have most viewer counts too.

In fact, I think I am yet to meet a single person who agrees with at least 90% of the current state. Most people in question wants big change, if not a complete new state. The ones we have today are either too "socialist" or too capitalist.

Unfortunately, most of these videos wants a more humane capitalism where the world is in a sort of hippie-state without wars, the other wants more capitalism, or "real capitalism" with very limited or even no government at all.

So the point is that the media we want transmitted needs to deal with the state and why more capitalism, or even capitalism at all, is not preferable. For example, use these points in the previous post and explain calmly and with facts why they are false and not the end goals of socialism.

[the last donut of the night]

It seems we've only discussed the more lunatic anti-communist views that predominate the American right.

Could European comrades share on the more popular views on socialism in the internet? Or is it just the same as here.

At least the word 'socialism' is being discussed more, even if on a hysterical POV. Many people, especially young people, will get curious.

[RotStern]

I agree with the above posts that say the image of socialists has not changed even with massive differences in ways of communication, this has simply made it easier for people to get a hold of anti-leftist information.
If you look at any political stuff on the internet you'll find the great majority is anti-leftist.

[Tatarin]

Although I think that most leftists do not use the internet that much. Most nazis, for example, only lives in Europe and America, there are not much of them elsewhere. Where there is leftist sentiments, or can be in the future, those places are not as developed as the West. I mean, how many revolutionaries in Nepal or India spend their time on the internet with videos? Or on forums?

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

You can contest that the internet in particular as a new media technology has been a democratising factor in terms of how it gives a voice to those traditionally not endowed with the economic resources to wage a media campaign on the type of scale that more prominent ideological superstructures have been able to historically. However it does remain very much an 'underground' movement. There have been some successes in terms of say 'independent' media permeating the west, for instance Al Jazeera - not that it's socialist in any sense, but much more progressive.

I think music as a propaganda tool is probably the biggest coup of new media. It's taken power away from record companies whereby independent artists can now jack a copy of pro-tools from the internet and upload them on to myspace and have them heard by a theoretically 'infinite' number of people - something which before could only have been done with an expensive studio and good distribution deal. The fact an artist can upload a song from their bedroom somewhere on the West Coast of the USA and have it heard by anyone in the United Kingdom almost instantly is definitely an advancement. The best example (I know its contrived), being Immortal Technique, which again illustrates the limits of our successes at this.

[LeninistKing]

First of all, we need a socialist party to rise to power, and nationalize CNN, FOX, CBS, ABC, UNIVISION and most mainstream media. Because right now the media is capitalist and of course the capitalist media will twist the truth about socialism and marxism

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I'm writing a paper about how the internet-- blogs, YouTube, forums, etc.-- has changed the image society has of socialists.

I'd love to get some quotes or references from anyone that has an opinion on this subject. Thank you!