#284: The Revolt of the Public

Tech Policy Podcast

TechFreedom

Technology

4.8 • 45 Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The events of the last few years have shown the clear impact that movements beginning online can have in the real world. Social media platforms, as well as the legacy media and the government, have struggled to adapt to this development. Martin Gurri, former CIA analyst, Mercatus Center visiting research fellow, and author of The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium, joins the show to discuss the technologically driven fragmentation of narratives, what this means for society, and the broader challenges facing political and media elites and institutions. For more, check out The Revolt of the Public, see Martin’s work in Discourse Magazine, and read his recent article on the rise of post-journalism in City Journal.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Tech Policy Podcast.
0:09.3	I'm Corbyn Barthold, Internet Policy Council at Tech Freedom.
0:15.1	Martin Gurie is here.
0:16.6	He's been called The Man Who Saw It Coming.
0:20.2	Martin is a former CIA analyst specializing in the relationship of politics and global media.
0:26.4	His book, The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium,
0:31.7	first published in 2014 and updated in 2018, has been praised for foreshadowing the political shocks of Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump.
0:41.7	He's a visiting research fellow at the Mercatus Center.
0:45.4	Martin, it is so great to have you here.
0:48.1	I'm happy to be here with you, Corbyn.
0:50.2	Well, I read your book a few months ago, and it is one of those books, and I don't say this about many, that I think about all the time.
0:59.3	And I really do recommend to our listeners if they want to understand what's going on in the world today.
1:04.8	There is no better place to start than the revolt of the public.
1:10.4	Why don't we dive in sort of at the early part of your book, which,
1:14.6	you know, you go into the past and say something that now seems almost quaint, that there was
1:19.3	a debate over the real world effect of social media at one point. You mentioned, you know,
1:25.2	at one time Malcolm Gladwell was sort of skeptical that social media could have a real world impact.
1:31.1	I think it's fair to say that debate is over.
1:33.7	What happens on the platforms can clearly have a real world effect.
1:37.1	You discuss Tahrir Square and the Arab Spring as one example.
1:43.0	Another in America that now seems like such distant history is the
1:47.9	comet ping pong pizza incident. And now, of course, what's on everyone's minds is the riot at the
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