Opinion battles in digital media are increasingly prevalent these days. Regardless of the pros and cons of each other's opinions, we are indeed in an era, according to John Keane in Democracy and Media Decadence (2013), the era of communicative abundance.
This era is marked by the dominance of new media (new media) which displaces old habits. Without distance constraints, audiences take advantage of radically dispersed multimedia communications. Therefore, referring to Keane, the battle of opinion in digital media, is common.
Theoretically, new media give the public a chance to rule. Henry Timms and Jeremy Heimans in New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World and How to Make It Work for You (2018), explains, if power is as philosopher Bertrand Russell calls "the ability to produce the desired effect", then now that ability "is in the hands of all of us".
THEORETICALLY, NEW MEDIA GIVES THE PUBLIC OPPORTUNITY TO POWER.
We have the capacity to spread ideas, to build communities and movements. We can spread information on a larger scale and impact. Digital technology allows us to grasp a new kind of “power”, through the ability to produce the “desired effect”.
We have the capacity to spread ideas, until mHeimans and Timms note that new powers necessitate political and economic contestation, create new balances, and displace old versions of power. The old powers were closed, inaccessible, and centrally driven. The new power involves people, is open, participatory, uploads, and distributes. Building communities and movements. We can spread information on a larger scale and impact. Digital technology allows us to grasp a new kind of “power”, through the ability to produce the “desired effect”.
However, the new power is like a double-edged sword, it can exist as a humanitarian movement, or terrorism to the manipulation of identity politics. The hope is the surge in social media topples dictators. In fact, the new strongman with the jargon of democracy is increasing in many places.
Optimism of digital democracy is immediately confronted with pessimism. Oligarchy, populism, identity politics lead to the practice of quasi-totalitarianism and fascism.
New dictatorship
The description above emphasizes that the digital technology revolution that has spread to the political realm necessitates the increasingly vibrant dynamics of democracy, especially in the context of a new dictatorship. Democracy, which is synonymous with freedom of expression, will soon find a new space that provides wide opportunities for each individual to express himself.
However, on the other hand, individuals as part of a democratic public also face a new phenomenon that actually threatens freedom itself. This is the phenomenon, if not our problem, these days.
Madeline Albright in Fasism (2019) reminds us that our freedom or democracy is currently facing a threat towards fascism. This is a serious matter, when the digital world provides opportunities not only for democracy, but also for fascist dictatorships. Freedom is indeed facing serious challenges now.
FREEDOM IS FACING A SERIOUS CHALLENGE NOW.
The public is now accustomed to dealing with the Orwellian state, precisely because of the state's digital control. Referring to George Orwell through his 1984 novel, the state is a monitoring institution (surveiliance) seluruh gerak-gerik rakyatnya. Artinya, negara membatasi kebebasan.
However, public freedom is also faced with the presence of giant digital companies, which also have power surveillance. They work, in terms of, what Shoshana Zuboff analyzes in her book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power (2019), as reconnaissance capitalism (surveillance capitalism).
So, the state and digital companies are like two elephants. Meanwhile, the public, who use various digital products, are the squeamish in the proverb “elephant fights with elephant, the humpback dies in the middle”.
Although the public feels that they appear to be subjects who can develop influence quickly, in fact they are merely objects of the two great powers.
It is in this context that the public has an interest in fighting for the guarantee of the protection of personal data. The goal is to guarantee public freedom, in addition to preventing personal data from being easily taken over, hijacked, and used by "certain powers".
Digital democracy will continue to be in difficult tests and challenges, while piracy is easy. Or, when political contestation is easily interfered with by non-democratic digital actions that are commonly carried out by politicians buzzer politik.
And, the logic is that when the state takes advantage of the influencer which incidentally buzzer, certainly not good because it paralyzes digital democracy.
Even though political practices and dynamics in the digital era are filled with phenomena of oligarchy, identity politics and the like, all parties should be more aware of its impact, namely the presence of a new dictatorship.
So, ideally, new dictatorships should be avoided. Upholding digital democracy is a shared responsibility. All parties must remind each other wisely, keep irresponsible opinions away, so that the digital realm becomes more beneficial.
M ALFAN ALFIAN
