I have an dream.....

....Remember at christmas, where RATM got to #1 in the UK charts from people on the internet being annoyed at the empty offers from Strictly come singing on ice. Well, what if it was over something hat actually mattered? What if....what if groups started to spring up, urging people to vote for an outsider party, like the Monoster Raving Loonies or something. If everyone clubbed together, and spread the word, over networking sites, boards like this, and all the other holes on the internet where we all like to play hide and seek. What if it did grow, to a great size, gathered momentum like the christmas effort did. Could we do it?

What do you reckon?

Could the internet take out the goverment as we know it?

I reckon we at the very least, stand a chance of sending a very big message to those in power. And at the very best, get to oust them for good! (or at least a few years)

Good idea/bad idea? What say you?

Yes.

It's why lots of countries restrict internet use ( China, Iran; Ect).

But in the west I'm afraid that we are way to complacent to really give a care. Remember this is country ( The UK but it's true in other Western countries as well) where more people vote for X-Factor then general elections. We've become fat with excesses and sadly a vast majority don't want to give up their bacon sandwiches, flat screen TVs and sky tv, and they sure as heck aren't goint to rock any political boats which might endanger their "essentials".

We've become too rich for our own good.

It's also why we have to utilise it while we have the chance!

I'm close to starting a facebook group for this purpose, but i've avoided FB due to prior concerns about ownership and data logging. But i think this could be worth the plunge. Even if it does nothing, it was worth a shot.

*contemplates*

I'll play devil's advocate here: The problem as I see it is that TPTB will use the same technique on FB that they use in the traditional political arena. They will work to fracture the participants. Cause them to break-up into multiple competing groups thereby nullifying the effect.

Look at the 'Tea Party' movement. It started out as a 'grassroots, independent movement'. Then the GOP and conservative right got involved and now the TP movement can't even agree with itself. They have quickly become a non-factor.

I believe the very best thing you can do, in terms of using FB to drive a meaningful political movement, would be a group like 'Declare Our Independence'. To become a member of the group you have to agree to three requirements:

1. You have to change your voter affiliation from whatever it is to 'Independent'.

2. You have to guarantee that you will vote in ALL upcoming elections.

3. You agree to vote against EVERY incumbent, irrespective of their party, in EVERY election going forward.

On its surface this may not seem like such a big deal but it is. People are being asked to do easily achievable things within the context of the existing political system. If #1 starts happening all of a sudden and in massive numbers the establishment WILL take notice. And if sufficient numbers of people join it will turn the political landscape upside down.

Here's the rub. If you read the political threads here on ATS you'll quickly see that the majority of people believe that all the problems in the country are the result of the OTHER party. They just aren't swift enough to understand the fact that the Republicans and Democrats are basically the same. They're both bought and paid for by big business. Neither gives a rat's ass about us. Until people in general get the fact that it's US against THEM nothing can ever, ever change.

What kind of message would you have to give to get all the people to band together?
What message would we send the government?

I think we would need a lot of people, probably more than your going to get from the net itself. But then again i'm not apposed to it, and would certainly be willing to get involved.

All forms of networking are potentially empowering to every member, to the extent their wills are aligned. The less aligned they are in purpose, the more divided they are.

Facebook and Myspace, and similar popular networking tools, probably have a huge potential to unite diverse global communities – and already are doing so, at some level.

Important questions I cannot answer: 1) To what extent are private communications, through networking sites, really private? 2) How long does it take to sabotage networking efforts, if they are public? 3) Why aren't more people already following through on jtma508's ideas? 4) How effective are these grassroots movements, once they gain significant momentum, at avoiding the trappings of mainstream political propaganda? And, for that matter, how do you prevent the success stories from being subverted by that which they attempted to subvert?

These questions aren't asked to dissuade anyone, merely to generate ideas.

I seriously doubt a bunch of attention seeking, spastic teenagers could bring down the government. Isn't that the main members of sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace?

No amount of protest within a system will change that system, and when the task that must be undertaken is a change of that system, such separatist activity is extraneous and dangerous because it serves as a surrogate for real action. The fact of that matter is that a sensible dissident program does not disagree with the values held by the healthy members of a society, but it disagrees with the methods used to achieve those values, so it can return to the source and change the design of the system so it can represent those values.

I think it would be about as successful as previous campaigns to "Rock the
Vote" and so forth. If young people, who will the the biggest audience, can't even be bothered to vote for *anyone*, why would they vote for some wacky third party candidate.

You didn't check out the Facebook Demographics link I provided above. Did you bob? It's not just kids.

Could facebook groups be the government?