Blog Post 5: The Freedom Convoy and McLuhan's Hot vs Cool Media Angela P

 

The Freedom Convy consisted of a chain of protests and blockades which began in January of 2022. It first started off as a protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates but soon after evolved into a fight against all COVID-19 mandates. The main way in which this protest was organized was through the use of social media platforms like tiktok and facebook groups rather than an in person setting (Osman, 2022). The use of social media permitted the protest to raise funds and connect individuals despite any distance but this also meant that many of the stories circulating in the media about this topic had little to no information backing up any of these theories(Osman, 2022). By not having a singular reliable source individuals do not get proper factual information which they would usually receive from news outlets and rather get fed nonsense to keep them engaged. Since there was tremendous room for misinterpretation, many groups started to use random conspiracy theories as a way to excuse their behaviour and switch the narrative(Lim & Rigato, 2022).

With this information at hand, I believe that McLuhan would view the convoy as a product of cool media. Cool media does not provide people with high-quality data and is rather referred to as low definition (Herman, 2022). The details which were shared with outside viewers did not come from researched facts or credible sources and were almost always made up and composed of over-exaggerated facts shared with viewers. The crusade was highly utilized by outside audience participants and needed constant outside involvement and engagement from other citizens to become what it was, which also ties into McLuans cool media theory. By using sources like Instagram and Twitter, the movement gave a platform to anyone and everyone who wished to participate in the protest and what it stands for. Overall the information which was presented as “facts” could be interpreted and exploited in unethical ways. The ability for anyone to share information enables the notion of multiple conspiracy theories arising and manipulating the current and genuine information which was already out about COVID-19 Mandates. Overall the protest did not promote anything but untrue information and violence in society by tribalizing individuals over a common belief system. 

Questions: 

Do you think that the high reliance on social media had more of a positive or negative influence when focusing on the spread of information about the Freedom Convy? 

Do you think that the organizers of the blockade could have found a better way to communicate and share information with the public to make it more credible? 


Comments

  1. Victoria BearaDecember 14, 2022 at 11:46 AM

    Hey, to answer your questions, social media is not a good way to spread information. It is such an unreliable source as it is so hard to tell what is real and fake. The amount of clickbait and deepfakes floating around social media makes it almost impossible to entirely know what is going on. With technological advancements in editing, it can illustrate and appear things to be authentic. It both adds and subtracts the positive and negative influences. However, some may outweigh the other. It is very unpredictable and cannot be relied upon. Therefore, organizers of the blockade could have found a better way to communicate and share information with the public to make it more credible and avoid unnecessary situations.

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  2. Zach TyrrellDecember 16, 2022 at 8:13 AM

    You pose some great questions! I personally think social media was the only way to communicate and share information. I certainly do not disagree with the fact that misinformation was being spread and there was a lack of credibility to a lot of claims being made by the public. However, I simply do not think there is another way for the public to share information that replicates the reach of social media. Social media serves as the populations voice. Sure, there was a lot of untrustworthy claims but there was also the spread of valuable information. I do not think shying away from social media would have been the answer. However, perhaps there is something people could have done to limit the misinformation on social media platforms.

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  3. Maggie MerawDecember 16, 2022 at 4:35 PM

    Hey Angela, great post and questions!
    To answer your first question, I think that the high reliance on social media has both its positive and negative aspects regarding the freedom convoy. In this situation, social media was one of the best ways for them to spread information and gather such a large crowd. I don't think the convoy would have received as much attention without it. Through social media, people could share ideas and information with a wide audience quickly and easily, making it easier for them to form social networks and online communities around their shared interests. This high reliance also has some drawbacks, since much of the information spread included misinformation or false claims, which lead to confusion and mistrust.

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