Photoshop for Democracy

Henry Jenkins’, Photoshop for Democracy, talks about “a shift in the public’s role in the everyday life experiences of citizens; what they are talking about is the changing the ways people think about community and power so that they are able to mobilize collective intelligence to transform governance; and what they are talking about is the shift from the individualized conception of the informed citizen toward the collaborative concept of a monitorial citizen.” This whole shifting gears is very important in our society because it is taking politics to a whole new level. We were that informed citizen, but now we are not only that informed citizen but we are one that actually partakes and affects politics. Our society is one that is based on consumption, entertainment, and technology savvy. Politics anymore are finding ways to get us (the people) involved and be more in tune with democracy. For example Dean raised money online from small contributions “setting a model that John Kerry would follow to close the “money gap” with the republicans.” The internet is a huge means of getting people involved, such as blogging, advertisement, you tube, and etc. Technology is very powerful. It not only gets the word out there fast, but it also can portray candidates in a certain fashion. The example I found is one on you tube that is based on all photo shop. This video is called, Are you afraid of Americans. It basically shows pop culture mixing with politics and history. There are clips from music videos, pop stars, Bush, the war, and etc. This video shows where our society has come from to where it is today. It definitely portrays convergence culture and can be very influential in how we think. The video portrayed Bush riding on a bomb. This obviously gives us a negative image of our president. However that is just what media wants. Anything and anyone can be portrayed in a certain manner by simple photoshop. Just like in the candidacy, all the candidates sound good and appear so nice. However, it can take technology just one time to break or make them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJz5CLRa4E8