Blog Post #5-- Freedom Convoy and McLuhan

The Freedom Convoys effective use of social media astounded me and proves how social media has evolved the meaning of a personal relationship with someone. A group of protest organizers are said to have communicated over Facebook and TikTok and set up this whole plan online without ever meeting one another physically until the convoy began (Osman, 2022). McLuhan believed that no medium remains static, and that when interacting with other mediums, they evolve; just like how speech is the medium from which subsequent tech extensions have evolved. Social media is an evolution of the internet that allows us to interact with others over vast distances instantaneously and thus, allowed these organizers to feel personally connected while not being connected physically. I think that McLuhan would view those directly involved with the Freedom Convoy as an example of cool media of television rather than hot media of radio mainly because of the quality of information and the amount of participation the convoy needed in order to garner any kind of national and international attention. In the article by Merlyna Lim she mentions how the main actors involved in the freedom convoy have a history spreading conspiracy theories and discrimination online (Lim, 2022). this means that unlike hot media which has "well filled data from high quality sources", the freedom convoy presents much less proven information and invites more audience participation in feeding into their theories. The other form of activism that was not mentioned in the articles is social media activism which I believe can be related to the cold media of TV quite nicely. Like how television used to be an activity that required much of your attention, activism used to be something that was much more personal and required being at the protest physically. However, now due to advancements in technology, TV has evolved to require little attention and encourages use of multiple devices at once, and activism can easily be done over your phone/computer on social media. Lim mentions that the far right political groups were among the first to adopt digital media and they use it to build their community, mobilize action, and spread disinformation to the public (Lim, 2022). Media coverage of the freedom convoy was also very 'cool' because of how little data/information the broadcasts had on the gathering; while some say the freedom convoy was a terrible time in Canadian history and deserved to be forcefully shut down despite peoples right to peaceful protests, some will also side with the freedom convoy and their beliefs amidst the fight against Canada's public health measures during COVID. Since there is no clear right and wrong in this scenario, this means the audience at home is welcomed to make their own conclusions and choose which side they want to support. This to me showed it was much more the cool media of television than hot media of radio. 

Discussion:

  • Were you also surprised by social medias ability to assemble such a dedicated and likeminded group of protestors without them ever meeting in person, or has it become the norm in our society?
  • Has social media lessened the need to build in person connections because of how strong online relationships can become?



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