Logistics is the detailed management and coordination of a complex operation. In Ben Brandzel’s article, he examines claims made by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell adamantly states that online organization is not effective in creating long-lasting social progress. In other words, the background operations (flow of goods, information, and people) of prior grassroots movements trumps logistics implemented by today’s online Internet-enabled activism. Gladwell also argues how Internet activism is only able to result in small social changes, which lack the huge societal impact that riots and sit-ins did during the Civil Rights Era.
To completely dismiss Internet-driven social activism is ignorant. Gladwell states that the only promises that Internet and social media platforms can make are for an unparalleled flow of information and the potential for learning. What Gladwell failed to analyze is how even though the approaches to activism organization have altered throughout the past couple decades, the yielded ambition has not. Gladwell points out that organizing online promotes tapping into weak relationships. These relations should not be seen as weak connections, but as opportunities. Now, through Twitter, Facebook, and countless other social media platforms, one is able to tap into these “weak contacts” and make them acquaintances, in turn, enabling them to spread the word to their close friends. The Internet’s supposed only promise of flowing information is the upheld and manifested through the creation of a vast network of consciousness and engagement.
-Meechie
Occupy Wall Street Analysis 