Blogging for democracy by John W. Maynor

Chen-ting Chen, Shine Lyui

North Belgian extreme right discoursesRadical pluralism and free speech in online public spaces by Bart Cammaerts

Bart Cammaerts

• Master’s degree in Political Science; PhD in Social Science.

• Now a senior lecturer in the Media and Communications Department of the London of Economics and Political Science. (

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/whosWho/AcademicStaff/bartcammaerts.aspx)

John Maynor

• Associate Professor at MTSU• Works in areas of

contemporary political philosophy and the history of political thought

• Specialized in civic republican theory

( http://www.mtsu.edu/politicalscience/faculty/jm.shtml )

Public Sphere

• The concept was created by Jurgen Habermas who is a German sociologist and philosopher.

• An arena for citizen to freely discuss and deliberate about political/social issues.

• People in public sphere are equal and rational.

Blogosphere

• Allows access to others.• A new medium to create and enhance political

discourse.• A new form of public space.• “Talk centric”• Digital divide makes it a supplement to more

established forums of deliberative democracy.

Deliberative Democracy

• A system in which citizens use deliberative procedure to make political/social decisions.

• In deliberative democracy, people pursue common interests instead of personal interests.

• Everyone is equal and rational.• From “vote centric” to “talk centric”

Freedom of Speech

• Freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment in the US.

• European countries, Canada, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand have stringent laws about hate speech.

Cyberbalkanization

• The isolation of likeminded individuals• Fragmentation and polarization• Diverse opinions should be encouraged

Public Reason and Civility

• Acceptable arguments only• Civility a requirement• CoC and CommResp help to achieve the ideal• The question remains whether free speech is

enhanced by civility

• Discussion: Hate speech is protected by the First Amendment in the U.S. and limited in many European countries such as Belgium

• Discussion: The irreconcilable nature of defining freedom

• WBC official website • WBC Blogs• Discussion: Blog – Private or Public?

Stormfront

• White Pride World Wide• Demonstration of a strong racist community

that exists worldwide.• Created by Don Black, a former member of

American Nazi Party and a Grand Wizard in KKK.

Danish Cartoons

• Danish cartoons were published by Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper.

• The newspaper was investigated and did not violate the law.

(http://atheistkiwi.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/danish-cartoon-of-mohammad-reprinted/)

Cammaerts’ Conclusions

• It is difficult to define what hate speech is.• Censorship tends to backfire on democracy.• We might be able to remove hate speech from

the public sphere by censorships and technology. However, the root of hate ideology still exists.

Maynor’s Conclusions

• Blogging as a form of deliberative democracy, stresses conversation between participants in blogosphere.

• Blogosphere is free, fair and open when deemed supplemental

• Online discussion as a means to combat the 3Vs• Blogging with the help of CoC and suchlike has the

potential to flourish

Our Conclusions

• Law is only able to regulate morality to the least extent.

• Almost impossible to incorporate morality into law due to its subjectivity.

• Moral issues be addressed through education.• Religion as a supplement.(Faith and Order: The

Reconcilation of Law and Religion by Harold J. Berman)

• Promote what is agreed upon universally. (Mindy)

References

• Cammaerts, B.. (2009). Radical Pluralism and Free Speech in Online Public Spaces. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 12:6, 555-575.

• Maynor, J. B.. (2009). Blogging for Democracy: Deliberation, Autonomy, and Reasonableness in the Blogosphere. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 12:3, 443-468.