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Point out to me a single dictatorship "brought down by fax machines". What a load of starry-eyed wish-casting piffle.

by jfb 16y ago

ugh 16y ago
That sentence sounded to me like he was making a reference to something. Just picking fax machines (of all technologies) for no good reason seems arbitrary and strange. It would be anachronistic [1] and no dictatorship was actually brought down but maybe he is referring to this: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957964,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957964,00.h... I would pick TV. Revolutions always have a myriad of causes and a myriad of factors that help or hinder them, a technology alone is never enough to bring down a dictatorship. I do think, though, that technologies can help revolutions and maybe even be the one deciding factor that makes them successful. Take the peaceful German revolution in 1989: East Germans weren’t hungry, they weren’t even poor, they weren’t unemployed and their tyrants were, as tyrants go, relatively mild. But East Germans could watch West German TV and compare, see that West Germans were richer, had more choice, more chances, more freedoms and more attractive holiday destinations. Would there have been the same mass demonstrations without West German TV, without information from the West? The trigger of the fall of the Berlin Wall itself was of course famously also East and West German TV and radio [2]. [1] Is this a correct usage of “anachronistic”? I got quite confused as to whether it is, searched around and eventually gave up. [2] In 1989, the East German regime wanted to slowly and in a controlled fashion open the border for their own citizens because of continued mass demonstrations and pressure from abroad. The plan to do so was announced on November 9 at a press conference. Asked when the new rules would come into force, a member of the Politbüro said erroneously that they would come into force immediately. West German TV and radio quickly spread the news that the Wall was open and because of the masses of people coming to the Wall it was actually really open that same evening. Wikipedia has a longer writeup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall#The_Fall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall#The_Fall
pavlov 16y ago
In the '70s, telefax probably was thought of as a revolutionary communications technology because of its relative instancy. Think of Solzhenitsyn, the Russian author who eventually won the Nobel prize. Once he lost favor of the ruling party, the KGB started confiscating his manuscripts. His master work, the Gulag Archipelago, consisted of seven parts that he never saw together because the pages were hidden at his friends' places. The book was smuggled in pieces to France to be assembled and printed there. That was little more than 40 years ago. In that environment, the ability to transmit book pages and images over a telephone wire must have seemed like a remarkable improvement compared to spending years hiding manuscripts in the hope of eventually being able to get them out through someone.
sfphotoarts 16y ago
generally big sticks and tanks have been more effective.
- jfb 16y ago
  And it's not like the Stasi didn't have fax machines of their own.
js2 16y ago
Bah, perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but you cannot deny the importance of communication. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/social-media-oppression/ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/social-media-oppress...

Point out to me a single dictatorship "brought down by fax machines". What a load of starry-eyed wish-casting piffle.

by jfb 16y ago

Point out to me a single dictatorship "brought down by fax machines". What a load of starry-eyed wish-casting piffle.

ugh 16y ago

That sentence sounded to me like he was making a reference to something. Just picking fax machines (of all technologies) for no good reason seems arbitrary and strange. It would be anachronistic [1] and no dictatorship was actually brought down but maybe he is referring to this: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957964,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957964,00.h... I would pick TV. Revolutions always have a myriad of causes and a myriad of factors that help or hinder them, a technology alone is never enough to bring down a dictatorship. I do think, though, that technologies can help revolutions and maybe even be the one deciding factor that makes them successful. Take the peaceful German revolution in 1989: East Germans weren’t hungry, they weren’t even poor, they weren’t unemployed and their tyrants were, as tyrants go, relatively mild. But East Germans could watch West German TV and compare, see that West Germans were richer, had more choice, more chances, more freedoms and more attractive holiday destinations. Would there have been the same mass demonstrations without West German TV, without information from the West? The trigger of the fall of the Berlin Wall itself was of course famously also East and West German TV and radio [2]. [1] Is this a correct usage of “anachronistic”? I got quite confused as to whether it is, searched around and eventually gave up. [2] In 1989, the East German regime wanted to slowly and in a controlled fashion open the border for their own citizens because of continued mass demonstrations and pressure from abroad. The plan to do so was announced on November 9 at a press conference. Asked when the new rules would come into force, a member of the Politbüro said erroneously that they would come into force immediately. West German TV and radio quickly spread the news that the Wall was open and because of the masses of people coming to the Wall it was actually really open that same evening. Wikipedia has a longer writeup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall#The_Fall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall#The_Fall

pavlov 16y ago

In the '70s, telefax probably was thought of as a revolutionary communications technology because of its relative instancy. Think of Solzhenitsyn, the Russian author who eventually won the Nobel prize. Once he lost favor of the ruling party, the KGB started confiscating his manuscripts. His master work, the Gulag Archipelago, consisted of seven parts that he never saw together because the pages were hidden at his friends' places. The book was smuggled in pieces to France to be assembled and printed there. That was little more than 40 years ago. In that environment, the ability to transmit book pages and images over a telephone wire must have seemed like a remarkable improvement compared to spending years hiding manuscripts in the hope of eventually being able to get them out through someone.

sfphotoarts 16y ago

generally big sticks and tanks have been more effective.

jfb 16y ago
And it's not like the Stasi didn't have fax machines of their own.

js2 16y ago

Bah, perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but you cannot deny the importance of communication. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/social-media-oppression/ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/social-media-oppress...