Boston University Arguments of The Other Side Debate Response
Boston University Arguments of The Other Side Debate Response
Guide:
Consult IDEA’s “9 Principles of Good Debating.” Within the discussion, refute 2 debate arguments of the other side. Refutations often research outside the scope of assigned prep material to furnish evidence.
about 300 words
you can read the articles, also cause the references out of the articles to debate “arguments of the other side”
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Arguments of the other side:
Author: Alexa Balint
From the readings it is clear to me that social movements can be, and have been, extremely successful without a leader. These leaderless campaigns have been responsible for many successes such as legalizing gay marriage, and gaining rights for immigrants. In addition, the Yellow Vests protests in France, the 2011 London riots and the Arab Spring were all successful leaderless movements where social media played a central role in drawing in people from far and wide and organizing mass unrest.
It may seem logical to think that social movements with a strong leader, such as Martin Luther King, would be even more powerful and successful than leaderless ones. After all, movements with strong leaders are the ones that pop up in our minds when we think of social movements. However, many more battles have been won through the coming together of millions worldwide using the power of social media. For example, the Occupy Wall Street movement and the United for Global Change, which mobilized hundreds of thousands in 82 countries claiming social justice (Castells 2012).
The first reason why leaderless movements work is the speed at which information can travel through social media. Ideas can spread amazingly quickly around the globe with the use of viral videos and messages. These ideas can quickly become a movement that is resilient and adaptable, “decentralized but deeply linked” (McKibben 2017). Teixeira calls this kind of movement “digital activism”. In contrast to this are the more time-consuming and limited traditional social movements that rely on meetings and a hierarchy of decision-making. Information sharing in the traditional way is also more time-consuming. Leaderless movements that use social media are able share up to the minute information in order to influence people’s worldviews and recruit them to the movement, thereby growing its numbers much more quickly and efficiently.
The second reason leaderless movements work is that they are often overlooked by authorities until it is too late. The threat of action is not seen because it is spread through social media, as in the case of the Yellow Vests protests, which were triggered by a proposed increase in the tax on fuel. As word spread like wildfire, and protests were coordinated from remote corners of France, the police were unable to anticipate and deter them.
The third reason leaderless movements work is because the reason for the movement is far more important than a figurehead. The shared concern of real people fighting for what they believe in has a stronger hold than a leader who dictates his own beliefs. The power is in the hands of everyone who is part of the movement, “a well-distributed power system” (McKibben 2017). In addition, if there is no one in a leadership position, then the state or corporate giants have no one to counter-attack.
