http://swampland.time.com/2013/01/31/we-the-people/
This article is about the petition website We The People that the White House created as a way to directly reach a large percentage of the population that it has been missing. The people that no longer watch the nightly news or tune in for the state of the union address every year are responding to this website. The Obama administration is thrilled because they are getting a direct link to people to hear what their issues are and be able to directly respond to those issues, which is a win win situation for everyone involved. Personally I think this is great. If people have an issue with the president now they can just put together a petition and find a bunch of people to sign it and send it to the White House. Then the president will respond directly to their concerns. Not only is it a great way to reach previously unreachable members of the public, but it also shows that the government is moving into the 21st century and embracing technology and the internet as a new tool at their disposal. I think only good can come of this.
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Okay, first things first: best statement I have ever seen a government give: “The Administration does not support blowing up planets.”
ReplyDeleteThat aside, that is the issue I see with having this petition thing. It is just to easy to spam with stupid requests, including the whole build a Death Star thing. Otherwise, it is good that the government has a way to communicate with the people who don't watch the news. So besides the spamming, the petitions are an awesome way to take the pulse of public opinion.
I would agree with Aaron that the biggest issue with this website is how easy it is to be spammed with ridiculous requests. The majority of what people hear about this website are petitions such as the building of the death star so it loses credibility publicly and draws people who misuse it to the site. I think it is a good idea it just needs some tweaking to be more respected and used for the right purposes.
ReplyDeleteThe whole premise that this is tapping into the opinion of people who were previously "unreachable" seems flawed to me because in order to get to these petitions, you need to have access to the internet. It seems to me to be completely pointless to run this website, even if the petitions are more serious than building a Death Star. If you want public opinion, look at/take a poll.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Aaron and Jeff about the possible problems of this site. However, I am curious to see how this plays in to the ever-changing nature of American politics. This really seems to reflect what we have been discussing about the increasing role of the internet in politics.
ReplyDeleteI think that this site can be very useful to the president if it is used correctly. If not there, it will just cost some one a lot time toe look through all the pointless petitions. It is always good to add more places for the American public to voice its opinion.
ReplyDeleteIf the website were to be used appropriately and those "unreachable" people were able to access the internet, then it would be amazing. However, I can see people spamming it with irrelevant requests. Also, if so many people have access, how are they to really see what everyone wants? At least they are making an effort. Who knows, maybe they can figure out a filter of some sorts.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that many of us see the spams from these petitions as a negative effect of this website, it seems like the White House does not mind at all, and I see where they are coming from. I don't think that their number one goal from this website is to get extremely important complaints from Americans. I think the White House made this website in order to get the "unreachable" citizens involved in politics in one way or another, and although many petitions are somewhat comical, it does not undermine the fact that those people who created the petitions are getting involved.
ReplyDeleteThe site seems like it could be a good idea, but I agree with Aaron about how more important things wouldn't be seen because they are getting spammed with stupid things. The White House is trying to reach the 'unreachable' citizens to involve them but just because this is there doesn't mean it's going to work.
ReplyDeleteI agree with several points already mentioned. It's great to know that the President wants to reach directly out to the public. However, I can see more "important" issues being spammed with minor ideas and completely irrelevant things from people. If they had some form of a filter that asked people what their topic of choice was, then things could be a little organized and then the President could see what the people want via how many people have petitions per category. However, they could also be spammed. Good and bad will come from this.
ReplyDeleteLike most everyone else, I have mixed feelings about this. The President trying to reach a wider amount of the public in a more direct way is a nice idea, but with the internet there are always issues with spam and misinformation or irrelevancy from people's comments that can alter the benefit of this plan.
ReplyDeleteIn order to evaluate the productiveness of the website, I think you have to weigh the costs of silly and impractical proposals on the site with the benefits of the insightful ones. In my opinion, the pluses of this website easily surpass the minuses.
ReplyDeleteI believe that many people will spam the website and many others will use it for the right reasons. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between useful information and spam. I don't think it would be beneficial.
ReplyDelete