Chapter 5 Blog Post

Chapter 5 Blog Post 

The term “Arab Spring” was popularized by the Western media in early 2011, when the successful uprising in Tunisia against former leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali emboldened similar anti-government protests in most Arab countries. (Manfreda, N.D. p.1) What makes the Arab Spring so unique is that it is the first uprising primarily using social media. Social Media has helped spread propaganda and has made social media an invaluable weapon. In seconds millions of people can spread their ideas in this case about political groups or leaders. This started with Tunisia but, due in large part to social media, spread throughout the entire Middle East. The protests have varied from violent to non violent.  The Arab spring really demonstrates the power of what  social media can do. Social media makes it much easier to get all these people with like-minded ideas together and make them able to mobilize their revolution.As seen in the Middle East, it is becoming increasingly difficult for these oppressive leaders to stay in power how they had before social media. This has made many wonder what could happen next with the growing power and influence social media has.  It's for certain that social media has changed the way people come together for a cause. 

2. Lindsey Stone was fired over a post she had put on Facebook. I found the post to be extremely stupid, especially for an adult of her age to put up. For her to have not considered the reaction this post could have caused is ridiculous. There is no way she could have ever expected the post to blow up to this proportion but at the least this post was guaranteed to offend some people that she was friends with on Facebook. The fact that it she was insulting something military related didn't help her out any as posts like that usually generate more disgust from a lot of Americans. As all veterans are glorified in American society, which probably isn't fair itself. But, as it turns out the post did blow up and cost Stone, her job and severely hurt her future. She had a running joke with a friend where they did the opposite of what signs said and posted it on Facebook. Stone admitted after she did not know how to fix her privacy settings on Facebook, and said she didn't want all her friends to see. By all accounts she was a good employee, who had made a lapse in judgment with this photo. It's not probably not fair that she lost her job over something like this but perception is reality. And the perception of this photo to most Americans is that she is disrespecting the War Memorial. This again, shows the power and influence of social media and the need to watch what you do. 

Works Cited 

Manfreda, P. (n.d.). Definition of Arab Spring. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
Zimmerman, N. (2012, November 12). Happy Now?: 'Good Employee' Lindsey Stone Fired Over Facebook Photo. Retrieved July 13, 2015.