Since I’m not a regular on Facebook, I’d never given much thought to using it as a political debate forum. My classmate, Bobby Ramsey, discusses some of his experiences debating the 2008 U.S. presidential race on Facebook, as well as his fears about using it as a forum. Bobby discusses the partisan, emotional reactions that often surface during these forum discussions – his own and those of others. When I read his thoughts I began thinking about the transpartisan movement. We need to get beyond partisan politics and start discussing the real issues.
Bobby details how he’s grown as a person and has learned not to necessarily believe all bloggers. For instance, he points out how he took blogger Robert George’s remarks about Barack Obama being a pro-abortion extremist at face value. Bobby goes on to say that he initially believed George because the blog seemed “authoritative” and because he was afraid that his own beliefs might be overthrown. I’m sure we can all relate to these feelings of insecurity. We all have a strong beliefs about certain issues and feel threatened when someone tries to challenge that belief. Debates teach us lessons as well. Although I’m an Obama supporter, I can learn something about Senator McCain that might change my perceptions of him. I don’t really agree with most of McCain’s proposed policies, but this doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be at least one issue that I’d agree with him on or that he’s a bad person.
Bobby is very upfront in admitting to how his “irrational bias” toward Obama’s charisma and “star quality” made him overlook some of the Senator’s more redeeming traits. I must admit this remark hit home for me – I’ve sometimes been so enamored with Obama’s charisma that I’ve not been able to see his faults, so it works both ways. Bobby says blogs provide a two-way dialogue that can help us get past celebrity and down to the real person. I’d never thought about it that way.
I think Bobby does a good job of pointing out how facial expressions and tone of voice are missing online, so we sometimes misinterpret what a person is saying. He points out the need to remain calm and patient while debating, and most importantly, admitting when we might be wrong. Another solution might be to send the person you are debating with an in-house Facebook message, rather than continuing to debate on a public forum. Bobby said this experience enabled him to realize that he was just having a difference of opinion with someone who might actually be a friend.
In summary, my classmates’ blog reinforced my belief that the internet and new technologies are transforming politics as we know it, but we must use caution in how we implement the technologies.
