The Week in Bloggingportal: Superficiality 2.0
Photo: lastyearsgirl_ (flickr) || Creative Commons BY-NC 2.0
It’s probably this blog post on how European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek uses Twitter to appear better than his actions are in reality that is worth reading the most as a starter for this Week in Bloggingportal (but don’t miss the end of this post!!)
It’s worth reading because it is the right slap into the face of those who love politicians use the tools just for the sake of it, for the sake of marketing more than for the sake of a change in behaviour, a trap in which many social media enthusiasts tend to fall a bit too often these days. Those who love superficiality 2.0 and lose sight for reality 1 point 0.
It’s not that we shouldn’t celebrate giant leaps for the blogosphere and applaud when bloggers enter formerly closed power centres, but maybe it’s sometimes better trying to go the hard way and understand how the EU is trying to remodel its burning house than to be happy that somebody has made a nice quote about that on Twitter.
Maybe it’s less comforting to try to find counter-arguments against “obscene” waste of EU money in a broken foreign policy than to enjoy reading about the “loss of honour” of Angela Merkel or to read about whining MEPs who want to be pampered by EU foreign minister Ashton.
If it’s really 2.0, you wouldn’t accept that Stephen can praise an Irish EPP minister but as a good social democrat you’d fight his arguments back with your comments. And if you were real 2.0-ers, you’d jump onto the strange arguments put forward by Rene’s in his blog post on why the Euro-Pact will create anti-European sentiments.
But all those of you who love superficiality 2.0 will love reading the repetitive comments about Strasbourg vs Brussels and you will smile happily seeing that the Dutch have finally joined this battle.
You will ignore the fact that France is dumping more worn-out politicians over the European Parliament which is actually a quite revealing story about the state of EU democracy. Instead, you may prefer thinking about why Paris has become the capital of Europe for some days. Or, even lighter, you’ll prefer hanging on the Oettinger’s loose lips, because it’s easier to grasp, more 2.0-y, a nice anecdote to read over a coffee.
But instead of all these stories, you should have read, right after the piece on Jerzy Buzek and his Superficiality 2.0, this blog post titled “Ireland for Sale“. It is probably the best euroblog post I’ve read in a while.
Beyond the quality of the story-telling it was also the perfect post to finish this Week in Bloggingportal since it contains the following quote from an Irish minister that probably grabs best what it means to go beyond Superficiality 2.0 and to find the right tone and the real engagement that deserves the 2.0 – even though this was a simple Politics 1.0 story:
“As for that man at the back, shaking his head vigorously, I’d be happy to have a talk with him later.”
