The supernova explosion Joe Wilson ignited at the intersection of politics and technology

Submitter Photo - John Warner Submitted by: John Warner on Sep 08, 2009 at 2:10 am Tagged with: Technology Source: Swamp Fox

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OK, everyone sheath your partisan saifs. Actually the fact that some of you have highly charged emotional responses to this is what I want to talk about.

We live at an interesting intersection of politics and technology.

Technology has fractured our media channels which is making our politics highly partisan and polarized. (We're not the most polarized in history. Citadel cadets aren't firing on the Star of the West steaming into Charleston harbor to resupply Fort Sumter... at least not yet.)

Instead of watching the same network news with Walter Cronkite, some get their news from Fox while others get theirs from MSNBC, while many of us are watching reruns of Andy Griffin and unfortunately some are watching Jerry Springer. A few of us learn breaking news on Twitter. In the car, some listen to public radio (that's required on Mondays at 7:52 am in South Carolina), while others listen to Russ Limbaugh; many listen to music, while some of us have checked out to the cacophony of satellite radio. The bottom line is that instead of hearing a diversity of views from people we might disagree with, technology induced polarization allows us to have our views reinforced by people who think like we do.

Add to this the C-4 explosive of a highly personal and emotional issue... health care. All of us care passionately about health care, because without our physical health nothing else much matters in this world. But there is little consensus on how to improve health care. Where Pelosi sees Nazis, Palin sees death panels. (I know, Nazis had death panels, which only shows how confusing the health care debate can be.)

Now, on this dry tender the President makes a speech to a joint session of Congress. Shortly after he labeled an argument by his opponents as "a lie plain and simple," a US Representative from South Carolina on the floor of the House, Joe Wilson, spontaneously responded in kind, "You lie!" The Internet crackled as many across the country instantly condemned the outburst. Equally quick, others were hawking "You lie!" t-shirts online which sold faster than stolen tools at the Jockey Lot. Pro and con exploded through Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other social media, as well as through traditional media outlets.

Within 48 hours of the President's speech, Wilson and his Democratic opponent, Rob Miller, between them had raised $1,750,000 for their campaigns through the Internet. They faced off against each other in 2008 too, and the amount they raised in a couple of days exceeds the entire amount they raised in a couple of years in their prior campaign.

Holy mackerel Batman!

The universe we live in is truly amazing. Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, you have to be impressed with the supernova explosion that occurred last week at the intersection of politics and technology.

Now if we only we could figure out how to tap into this cosmic force, imagine what we could accomplish.

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Submitter Photo - Bob Lantis Bob Lantis

As a non-affiliated (i.e., independent) voter who trusts neither the far left nor the far right wings of American polictics, I applaud your observations regarding the fracturing of what was formerly civil, respectful, and dignified political dialog. This is an intelligent statement on cause and effect, with IT at the center of it.
I don't agree, however, that the behavior of Wilson is somehow justified because he, as you claim, "responded in kind" to our President. Not only does a careful reading of the speech transcript describe a picture that is very different, both tone-wise and logic-wise, from your own very interesting slant, but even Fox News, which would ordinarily impart their signature "shrill damnation" upon this administration, called it (as herein) the way it was...
< Wilson shouted, "You lie," after Obama claimed in his joint address to Congress that his health care reform plan would not cover illegal immigrants. It is against House rules to call the president a "liar" or accuse him of "lying" when the House is in session. >

So, characterizing Wilson's innapropriate behavior as igniting an impressive supernova explosion does not seem to resonate. It's more like a dwarf implosion, creating a black hole that sucks the light from everything around it, including reason and common decency.
There should be no need to soft-peddle Wilson's indecency and turn it into a glorious event, thereby playing up to him and his supporters; at least not within the purview of this particular venue, which claims to serve as an important networking connection for innovation and entrepreneurship. Your otherwise excellent post on Technology and social change is not well served by the insertion of slanted (or other) political viewpoints that are not relevant to and detract from the mission.

Submitter Photo - Michael Ellison Michael Ellison

John, your words "... after [Obama] labeled an argument by his opponents as "a lie plain and simple," a US Representative from South Carolina on the floor of the House, Joe Wilson, spontaneously responded in kind, "You lie!" " put an interestingly biased spin on the event. You imply that WIlson's inappropriate outburst was somehow legitimate in light of something Obama had said earlier. The President did not call any person a liar, only that an argument made by some was untrue. WIlson on the other hand called the President of the US a liar in a very public forum. How shameful!

No Author Photo Cindy Davies

Thank you for your insights on this topic. A highly troubling aspect of the current climate is that dialog so commonly flies about in the form of snappy comments that bounce among the TV and radio pundits or across social networking sites. Meaningful communication is a rare thing, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to recognize it when we see it.