I’ve dedicated a large part of the evening to reading something called a book. Made from dead trees, I’m told. The tome in question, “The Pirate’s Dilemma” by Matt Mason, is study on the effect of pirate mindsets on culture, society and the innovation of new technologies - rather ironic given it’s delivery medium.
Something that really struck me this evening begins around page 51: the tale of a younger Presidential candidate who entered the race as a relatively unknown political entity, who was largely undervalued by both the installed political base and the country’s mainstream media . As the contest continued, this candidate and his supporters turned a grassroots movement into a supreme political force, raising awareness for the person-brand. The gentleman often suggested that his rivals only concerns were for the wealthy, while he was concerned only with the common man and that he was committed to ending the corruption which was ingrained in the political system, themes that resonated with his supporters and rallied a great number of first time voters to his cause. Despite a late term scandal involving a figure close to the candidate that was expected to put his political ambitions to an early end, he emerged victorious in the 11th hour, much to the credit of internet enabled citizen media, including blogs, chat rooms and message boards.
That Candidates name, surprisingly, was not Barack Obama and the election in question was not our recent democratic primaries, but in fact one Roh Moo-Hyun, who served as the President of South Korea from 2003 until early 2008.
While I admit the over all political themes are not new, the use of the internet as a medium for massive Political upheaval on a national level, despite it’s ubiquitos qualities in the echo chamber of the blogosphere, is still a reletively young phenomenon to the world as a whole. It’s easy for the digerati to forget that the networked world we live and breath is still scary and new to the majority of the democracized world, especially those who grew to adulthood (and political / economic power) before it’s emergance into the mainstream from the confines of academia.
I have to wonder if the Obama campaign isn’t taking many of it’s strategies directly from Moo-hyun’s play book, given the intense similarities.
My hope is that should Obama win the General Election in the U.S. this November, that he doesn’t draw inspiration from Moo-hyun’s Presidency, which itself was rife with scandal, controversy and ended on a rather bitter note.
Got an opinion on the subject? Let it fly in the comments, I’m all eyes.
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