The sheer act of communicating on the Web carries political weight regardless of content

Evidence

There are those who would argue that a ‘confession’ regarding the origin of one’s shirt is hardly a political act—unless perhaps a conversation on clothing production and globalization follows. But on the Web, just as in the consciousness-raising groups of the 1970’s, the fact of communication itself has political import, even where the content of the communication appears not to. When we want to know what something ‘means’ on the Web, it’s useful to remember Marshall McLuhan’s injunction that the medium is the message. On the Web, the medium of exchange is not dialogue, but rather dialectic. — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls, 71

Categorization

• DEFINE: Posits Web exchange as dialectic rather than dialogue, a key conceptual distinction.
• SEED: Angle for an essay: what the 1970s consciousness-raising comparison implies about why social platforms feel political even for trivial posts.
• XREF: connects to: No topic is inherently political or apolitical — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 139; The internet amplifies existing political power rather than transforming it — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 489; Seemingly apolitical online communication still resembles democratic politics. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 47 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Seemingly apolitical online communication still resembles democratic politics. #expands (0.85) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 47
• The internet amplifies existing political power rather than transforming it #complicates (0.82) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 489
• Internet communication reflects rather than transcends offline power relations #complicates (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 58