It's a typical weekday: sitting in the library after class, before sports, internet open, trying to catch up on the world that jogged by as I sat in class.
I logged into Facebook today to see Scott Brown’s smiling photo. I browsed Youtube, Fox News, and CNN to see Scott Brown calling on ME to Volunteer Today! Me the unregistered, out-of-state student?
My eyes gleamed gazing at the ad; it was late at night, I felt motivated, daring, adventurous and clicked the ad. Next thing I knew I was whizzing along the virtual highway, pictures and colors forming before my eyes (because dorm internet is slow), straight to a volunteer’s form asking me for my name and email. “We need your help!” it says.
I’m curious about this guy. Does he have anything to do with the open senate seat? I pull up Youtube and, three seconds later, I’m watching him engage in intense debate with his opponents Coakley and Kennedy. His charisma is powerful, his views are well presented, and I search for Scott Brown on google. I read the Wikipedia page that springs before me. He will be the vote to break a Democrat cloture on the health care reform bill? I click the footnote at the bottom of the page, linking me to the Boston Globe senate race site.
From there on forth, through links to articles, pictures, interviews, more debates, advertisements, rebuttal-ads, and video bloggers, I let myself loose on this wild goose chase of information through the virtual landscape in the early morning, becoming as informed about his record, his policy, the issues, his opponents, and the polls as any Massachusetts voter could be. I’m on Twitter and Facebook talking about the senate race; people respond and we debate. I’m up writing a blog and posting videos about Scott Brown. I get an email alert about breaking news: Obama will be speaking with Coakley. I see a picture of Brown with Juliani on Boston Streets. I feel like I’m involved with the campaign, becoming more aware, knowledgeable. The campaign and all its drama is unfolding before me, on a screen, in my dorm room, late at night.
In such a short time, I came to feel like a part of a great story; I realize the tremendous power of links, of videos, of online radio, of online recruiting. Other ordinary people, not just the news or film crews, are involved just like me. I saw a creative advertisement against Brown created by ordinary citizens under name of ‘Democrats united against the Evil Empire’.
An unaffiliated joke attack ad. The quote at the end is great too.
Blogs have poured their energy and focus into the race, ranging from conservative political blogs, The Hope For America, to news and trivia blogs like WizBang.
On Google, the automatic constantly updates Twitter posts about Coakley, presenting a chain of links as hundreds of tweets by Americans fly by as new tweets appear on the screen. Ordinary people are just as fired up about a drama, an election as the candidates themselves, and they too have created a means to express and rally audiences, becoming as great a part of the political process as any.
The political machine, enhanced by the internet, is frightening in its volume and awesome in its power (‘awesome’ in its original meaning). I had never heard of Scott Brown or Coakley until last week, and I had never been in Massachusetts until this summer, let alone thought about it; somehow, today, I know more about the issues and am more involved in a Massachusetts campaign than I have been for any school leadership campaign or club election even though in school I was directly affected and immediately surrounded by the issues, and friends with candidates. The power of the media in spreading a message, inspiring a political base, and rallying support to the most distanced or ignorant of audiences is greater than what most direct human interaction can achieve.
To me, as an American, this empowerment and force in motion, just days before an election, makes me more excited and proud to be part of this democracy than any movement or phenomenon – this represents an indisputably true American spirit.
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