Gladwell and Gopnik

During the 2011 Egypt uprising protesters gained support through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to help end poverty and unemployment in which they were experiencing at the time. This major flow of support from across the world helped strengthen the protesters cause and led to an eventual victory in Egypt (Brym 2014).

Hierarchical organizations, like high-risk activism, allow individuals to obtain strong ties. Malcolm Gladwell argues in his essay “Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted”, that technology cannot be used for high-risk activism because it is not disciplined enough to be used for strong bonds; however, technology can be used for low-risk activism. He speaks about people having thousands of friends on Facebook, but those online friends are not the real friends who will hold strong ties. Without discipline, movements would not be considered high-risk activism because strong hierarchy is consists of moments without violence. In the story “Return to Hayneville”, Gregory Orr explains the civil right movement that he cooperated with was a civil rights group for racially integrated delegates at

Based upon the high-risk actions of the Civil Rights Movement, Gladwell asserts that true social change occurs through physical reform and activism, which does not require social media, because tweeting involves low risk activism with little personal connection unless people use social media as a tool to connect and collaborate towards high-risk causes.

In Norman Gladwell’s “Small Change”, he seeks to answer the question: can activism through social media be as effective as it’s real world counterpart? In his opinion, no, though he notes that it can have it’s uses. Gladwell's primary argument is that social media sites lack the hierarchy and structure needed to execute and control the highly risky protests required to actually make a change, citing the almost militant precision exhibited by the civil rights movement. He theorizes that this is because social media is incapable of fostering the deep bonds between people necessary to trust and devote themselves wholly to their comrades and cause. He concludes that while social media activism can

Flashback to the 15th century: Puritans protest against religious persecution. Flashback to the 20th century: African Americans protest against racial segregation. Currently in the 21st century: people protest against police brutality in the United States. Flash forward to the future, Clarisse McClellan, a character from Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 individually protests against what she believes is corrupt in the world. Protesting is a symbol of strength and power within a group of people who are exhausted of inequality. Without protest, our civilization would lack the necessary balance between people and government, which is why it is such a crucial aspect of society.

Protests are the foundation of our country. It was our ancestors protesting against the British that started the revolution and led to what is now the United States of America. The methods of protesting have been changing. Instead of using violent tactics, such as war and destruction, reformers such as Thoreau, Gandhi, and King have brought about a more impactful way of protesting. Nonviolent protests are one of the most successful ways to bring about change, and it is through this method that we achieve our goals while at the same time keeping the peace. Setting a precedent even in the 21st century, Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience underlines the basis of nonviolent protests, and his essay has been used in the works of Gandhi and King. Civil

In today's society, the foundation of civil uprisings have been constructed on the principles of both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.. Even though we are in the 21st century and have overcome numerous events, today we are still fighting the obstacles that both these men had fought during their lifetime. Unfortunately, equality for everyone is still not a concept that has been reached in America, but due to innumerous protests many great outcomes have risen. Both Gandhi and King fabricated a method of non-violent protesting that only benefits the protestors because they give authority no reason to intervene. If authority was interfere against the protest, then the cause would rise in popularity and aggrandize. Although this type of

The battle against injustice has happened throughout history many times, but the decisions on how we as people, or a nation, take action on the matter that creates a message across the world. During the Civil Rights Movement, the tactic of non-violence was used as a tool by the leaders, most used by Martin Luther King Jr. Some of the nonviolence acts that Jr. used as tools were petitions, speeches, art, and marches. These acts were not used to create brawls among people, but rather to create peace. The ‘weapons’ used crafted symbolic actions that showed the disapproval of the group trying to diminish segregation. During

This attention seeking nature, this focus on people, whom we will never form bonds, with instead of focusing on those who care about us, people that would give anything to make us happy, the people we have strong ties with; that is what we need to focus on. But, what if we did meet these people? What if these people that we have "weak ties" ties with really do care about our well being. Zeynep Tufekci, in her Ted Talk, "Online social change: easy to organize, hard to win" challenges Gladwell directly with her own experiences and knowledge of human nature. "It's also not true, as Malcolm Gladwell claimed, that today's protesters form weaker virtual ties. No, they come to these protests, just like before, with their friends, existing networks, and sometimes they do make new friends for life. I still see the friends that I made in those Zapatista-convened global protests more than a decade ago, and the bonds between strangers are not worthless. When I got tear-gassed in Gezi, people I didn't know helped me and one another instead of running

Malcolm Gladwell’s article "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not be Tweeted" raises a significant question about the prospective contribution of web-based social networking to the advent of progressive social movement and change. Gladwell bold declaration that "the revolution will not be tweeted" is reflective of his view that social media has no useful application in serious activism. Contrasting various elements of the “high-stakes” lunch-counter protests in Greensboro, North Carolina in the 1960’s with the “low-stakes” activism achieved through social media, Gladwell concludes that effective social movements powerful enough to impose change on longstanding societal forces require both “strong ties” among participants and the

The history of American, non violent, civil disobedience depicts how peaceful resistance can shape public opinion, voice dissent, and change unjust laws. In both Contemporary and past history do we see the role that protest has on our Democracy,and how dissenters, such as Susan B Anthony and Martin Luther King Jr, can become American heroes. The United States was founded on an act of civil disobedience, and even in Modern America, principled dissent has become the highest form of

After reading “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau, I believe that this historic piece of literature can still have a substantial impact upon the current beliefs of the American people. The reason that this essay has such significance to America is because this essay addresses the proper way to go about civil disobedience in addition to providing education about the nature of civil disobedience. I believe the most significant message that this essay could teach Americans is expressed in this quote, “A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.” This quote expresses the need to not just believe in a cause but to actively support it. This is in contrast to a wide spread phenomenon called false activism that is prominent in society. We all know someone who is, and for the most part all of us are guilty of seeing a cause online, claiming to support it, and then not doing a single thing to progress the cause. For example, most everyone you talk to would claim to strongly support more environmentally friendly methods of gathering energy yet the majority of us have not done anything to progress the cause of green energy.

In the reading “Small Change : Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted,” Malcolm Gladwell discusses the act of four brave college students and their act of social activism. The four freshmen from a local all black college sat down at a counter in a diner near Greensboro, North Carolina and were denied service because of their race. The students refused to leave and instead started a protest there at the restaurant. The numbers of people protesting with the four young men increased as the story spreaded across states. The story of the sit in was done without the use of any technology or social network. Gladwell discussed the effectiveness of the sit-in because of the relationship between

Social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, have allowed their users to stay connected with others more than ever before. Although, when it comes to social and political activism, these sites are the least effective method for change. The creation of these social media sites has made many people believe that, by spreading their “knowledge” and information to their followers and fellow networkers, they can easily solve an issue that has risen in society; however, Malcolm Gladwell, staff member of The New Yorker magazine, disagrees. In his essay, Gladwell opens with a description of the Greensboro sit-ins. He emphasizes how effectively members participating

What determines a movement? Malcolm Gladwell defines what pushes a movement to make a difference. He analyzes the concept of “strong ties” and “weak ties” and how these relationships affect an individual’s willpower and determination to help a cause. Gregory Orr puts these ideas into context in his memoir, “Return to Hayneville”, in which he recounts his experience and involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, focuses, in particular, on the civil rights movement concentrates to the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. Gladwell’s ideas and opinions of social and political emancipations are given a real world setting, as