In the video “Cairo’s Facebook Flat,” the young Egyptian revolutionaries stepped out and voiced their opinions which caused them to have family issues. They are not afraid to revolt against the government even if they were arrested and tortured. One technique they took, because of technology and their resources, was videotaping protesters testimonies and uploading them to Facebook for the rest of Egypt to view. One of the activist spoke on how the media (Egyptian TV) brain washes everyone watching making it look like these activists are bad guys.
The approaches they are taking by using Facebook and Twitter to market to the rest of Egypt is in-fact using technology as a tool. However, it is not using technology as “just a tool.” Yusuf Bagato, an art student, discussed how Twitter and Facebook started the revolution making it the most important component they have. “Most of the youth in Egypt have Facebook accounts, so it is the easiest way to get to them,” Omar El-Shamy expressed.
As to freedom of expression and they way these activist express their beliefs through Facebook, there is an either/ or approach meaning you are either with them or against them and believing what the Egyptian media is showing them on TV.
The cultural assumptions being made about technology and its impact, is the ability to use technology to connect with other people gaining a stronger network and the ability to voice opinion for what’s right. In the video “Friends of the Revolution: Facebook in the News,” 60 Minutes interviewed Wael Ghonim, an internet activist, and how he used Facebook to post information about the police brutality in Egypt. More Facebook users began to share their photos and videos of police brutalities. They began to use Facebook to organize protests in which non of the organizers have ever met in person.
In the “Digital Media Ethics” book, Charles Ess says;
“There is a strong tendency that the technologies of CMC- the computers, networks, and various software applications that make it possible for us to use them to communicate globally- are somehow ‘just tools,’ i.e., somehow neutral media that transparently and without a particular bias allow us to communicate with one another.”
The social networking platforms and the revolution in Egypt were examples of how human beings are using technology to market their views and protest against the media. These social networks made it easy for the revolutionaries to meet up and protest also giving them the availability to meet others with the same political views.
Cold World 