The argument in favor

The Question

"Resolved: The Internet enables citizens to have a greater voice in politics and is, on balance, already a tremendous force for strengthening participatory democracies around the world." The students on both sides of this debate should use one or more explicit examples of the use of Internet in a campaign (issue or candidacy) to buttress their argument.

Tentative Arguments:

• By aggregating potentially inflammatory/interesting stories, Global Voices raises the likelihood that one of those stories will become viral on the internet, or make the mainstream media. Therefore, GV gives a lone blogger the power to start the momentum that could solve the problem she writes about.
  • The faster a story becomes salient, the sooner those who might be interested in stopping it can act. It's easier to stop human rights abuses when they're still small.
• It becomes possible for an outsider candidate without an established political machine to spread his message. (e.g. Yunus)

Examples to Discuss

• Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus is running for office, and trying to use the internet to harness the grass roots. Click here for more. See his open letter here.