UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy

Sampaloc, España Street, Manila

Castration of Traditional Communications In the Neoliberal Setting

Clay Shirky, the speaker, is a distinguished teacher on the socioeconomic effects of Internet

technologies and journalism. In his talk, he discussed about the meaning and use of Internet

technologies for someone who has a message and would like to relay it. The 21st Century brought

with it an anathema that is completely the opposite of the previous generations wherein socially

speaking, the resources and the authority are not anymore lodged within a single established

institution but are now held and empowered to be used by the consumers. Information, a vital

ingredient for social engineering is not only controlled by the mass creates a nexus that empowers

them to engage in the task of having a political conversation, no matter how trivial or substantial

it is.

The TED Talk by Clay Shirky is undisputedly true as it is merely declarative of how the

state of things work nowadays and does not offer anything that is otherwise argumentative in

nature. Technology has indeed transformed the power structures and has generally (from its intent

and design) made the relationships between the establishment and among people more inclusive

and democratic.

As shown however, in the latter parts of his talk, nothing prevents the ruler or institution

to further oppress the ruled-upon class to deprive, strip, censor, or otherwise regulate such right to

the extent that it does not truly encapsulate the practice and use of such right. When the

Cimatu, Jana Imari B. | 1A20

 UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS
Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy
Sampaloc, España Street, Manila

communication that is empowering the people to share thoughts and expression is instrumentally

controlled by the government, it is no longer democratic but rather an anathema to the status quo

of the 21st Century: tyranny that snowballs into strands and transformations of fascism and

anarchy.

Communication in the 21st Century that involves the individual in the production and

consumption of content provides the person with equal footing against the establishment. This

however must be practiced with critical reasoning and etiquette that precludes all doubt of moral

obliquity. We must guard ourselves against the consumption of a certain type of information that

clouds our judgment and try to consider all types of angles that would widen our perspective on

that certain matter. While communication and empowerment of social media has been greatly

focused on the individual, the established institution is always at the forefront of abusing this

transformations to their advantage wherein it tries to separate same or different subjectivities to

further acquire their own power base and ideologies, as shown in the recent Philippine election

and politics.

Cimatu, Jana Imari B. | 1A20

 UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS
Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy
Sampaloc, España Street, Manila

References:

(TED Talks [Shirky, Clay], Youtube,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_iN_QubRs0&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0g5OkMXM_P

rjji47cIQ_3QUBaQ-jvVD55twvxZEvqS6yF5Nsfb6ZOaxwY, Date Retrieved: March 4, 2019)

Cimatu, Jana Imari B. | 1A20