ePopulism and the Internet

Part 1

Populism often evokes the picture of a large, belligerent crowd comprised of middle-to-under class individuals who, by their own design or at the whims of unsavory political types, attempt to obtain more control over their political and economic future by attacking, through both violent and nonviolent means, a system that is seen as either corrupt or designed to limit the success of what we might historically consider “the lower class”. Populism, however, while continuing to reveal itself in various political manifestations across the globe, has evolved and expanded substantially into a less-studied area of humanity in our modern age: the Internet.

In the famous comedy Seinfeld, Jerry has an acquaintance called Newman, an extraordinarily undesirable postal employee (played by Wayne Knight) who once made a rather astute comment about his job: “When you control the mail, you control…information.” Just as the flow of mail is sent through major “hubs” around the world and distributed far and wide, so is the Internet a network of connections and “nodes” that distribute information in a similar, albeit much quicker fashion.

This instant flow of information, coupled with the ease of connecting to the huge network, has brought the rich man, the middle-class man, and the poor man together for electronic tea and cookies. Weblogs, known commonly as “blogs”, have created a relatively free, instant way of self-publishing, bringing any person, regardless of sex, race, color or creed, straight into the homes of anyone that clicks on a link to their blog. With enough website traffic, of course, blogs can turn into human networks themselves, where people who share beliefs and values (or perhaps simply interests) can talk, discuss, coordinate and plan. The explosion of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) is likely linked to the rapid augmentation of the Internet, as it has created a place for all people to go and to gather.

But there is more to ePopulism than discussion and networking. Although Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and America Online pioneered many aspects of the Web during the 1990s, a resurgence against these companies, largely at the “grassroots” level of Internet users, has occurred in tandem with a surge of public discontent with big, established U.S. companies. Microsoft by far is the prize to be won—or at this point to be challenged seriously. Google and Mozilla Firefox are the biggest players in a fight to dethrone the corporate monstrosity, and have been surprisingly successful at producing content and software that consistently outstrips the offerings from Microsoft. Likely, again, this has occurred both because of a grand effort by investors to offer something different in the marketplace, but also because of a pointed public willingness to try and use something besides the old and the established (i.e. Microsoft).

This societal phenomenon isn’t only limited to the Internet realm, either, where a desire to embrace “different and new” extends to everything from architecture design to food, from buying Saabs and Volvos instead of Fords and Chevrolets, to popular rejection of traditional American culture and values. The Internet, however, has augmented this social transition by aiding the spread of new and unconventional information and ideas throughout the public. As a result, people are less secure in their background and beliefs, less comfortable with their government and its policies, and more willing and able to create “movements” and promote change.

The classes, like no other time in the history of the world, have begun to break down as a result of an experimental U.S. Government program. Karl Marx would be proud.