"The shallow political power of the public will shape our policy debates": Kony 2012, Apple, Occupy.

[Robb]

A Video Campaign and the Power of Simplicity

(snip)

...Yes, “Kony 2012” may be crude, simplistic and shallow, but can it really be counterproductive if it prompts young people to ask why a well-known warlord with 30 years of atrocities to his name has not been caught and prosecuted?

Similarly, online protests against conditions at the factories in China that produce Apple products were asking a simple question: Is this really the best the richest corporation in the world can do in treating its workers? The response of experts was equally dismissive: Clearly you have no idea how preferable a miserable factory job is to an even more miserable existence in rural China.

And in the case of Occupy Wall Street, the movement asked why the income gap was widening and whether the trend could be reversed. Many critics — Wall Street bankers and opinion page pundits — assailed the movement, asking what precise remedies it was advocating.

The criticisms miss the point. The Occupiers, like Apple’s critics or the people behind “Kony 2012,” are arguing for the right to keep it simple....

(snip)

We are entering an age when the shallow political power of the public — including those too young to vote — will increasingly help shape our policy debates. And yes, that is scary to professional foreign policy experts, much in the same way reference book authors with graduate degrees were rattled by the idea of an online encyclopedia created collectively by amateurs.

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/business/media/kony-2012-video-illustrates-the-power-of-simplicity.html?_r=1

[Pholus]

1. Thank you for this post. It explains beautifully what I've been saying for weeks (about Apple).

When the whole chorus of "but everyone does it" comes up.

Not everyone is the 800 lb gorilla in the room and the rest will do whatever it does.

Thanks again!