Your point on there being no such thing as personal made me smile. That definitely is a chat that needs alcohol. ;)

“The moment we’re living through, the moment our historical generation is living through, is the largest increase in expressive capability in human history.”

‘naff rumbling now..

Oh i apologies if my words came out too harsh, it was late at night ;-) you know I love debating with you my friend…

re personal, this is for a long conversation over good whiskey… I’d argue that there is no such thing as personal, it’s all cultural/social. even when you solitary converse, ponder, philosophise with yourself your insight emerges not through individual rational deduction, but instead through the dialogical interaction http://is.gd/1e0uV

re cultural, I think that every social object, on and offline, live in the same space. Both the wire and Iran live in the pub, in the office, in the guardian and on twitter…

keep bumbling man!

I feel it necessary to point out though, that nowhere do I ‘dismiss’ these things. I explore them. I’m also not judging anyone. Passing judgement would be a technical impossibility as I have not reached any conclusion. And lastly that not do I once say wearing a digital badge is meaningless. I merely question its meaning*, which feels like a healthy thing to do.

Sorry to appear defensive, but it’s a delicate issue and I’ve been very careful not to judge. I guess there is naturally a negative subtext when one ‘questions’ something – so I accept it may have come across this way. I continue to believe that everything should be questioned, always.

Lastly, my hodgepodge of a post also muddies things by tackling the issue from three different standpoints, but without distinguishing them:

*Meaning, as far as I’m concerned is mostly personal. This is where the exploration is philosophical. I am exploring my own feelings about the act and my relationship to it. I would love to hear from people that feel differently, so thanks for commenting.

The second standpoint is cultural. I’m not saying the Iran campaign is ‘no different’ to a ‘Which character from the Wire are you?’ badge. I’m acknowledging that they both exist in a similar space and whether we like it or not, one can and almost certainly will influence the cultural meaning and context of the other.

And the final viewpoint is a marketing one. From this point of view, I agree (and in fact wrote above) that it can surely only be a good thing to harness the power of the masses – especially if some of them are unlikely to make a deeper commitment.

Hope that clears up the way I tackled this. I totally acknowledge that I’m a bit of a bumbling blogger. I don’t write clean, crisp arguments (very often) I just explore ideas and see what comes out the other end ;)

In this brave new world awareness/attention cannot be underrated. wearing a digital badge might be just as a strong statement as physically holding a support placard or wearing a t-shirt – people around you notice, some move on, some imitate, some talk about it.

most importantly, what you dismiss as passive can still be very scary to those in power and a massive virtual demonstration of support (or defiance) can put just as real pressure for change.

(I’m Bunk btw)