Week 4: Concepts: 'publics'
Concepts. Publics. On social networking platform’s I’m pretty sure you cannot find the word private. Most users are exposing there private parts in the feed. In this week’s learning materials we looked at publics and the public sphere as a whole. We explored types of publics and looked into the term of ‘public’ on social networking sites as Reddit, Facebook, Twitter etc. We also linked back to our blogging in regards to creating public opinions, arguments and general conversation whether it would be formal or informal text. A public can be thought of as a ‘a concrete audience, a crowd witnessing itself in visible space, as with a theatrical public’. In most recent and tragic times we look at public in a theatrical public area at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris. During the Paris terriost attacks “American rock band Eagles of Death Metal has released its first statement following the terriost attack at it’s show at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris last Friday. At least 89 people died in the attack when gunmen entered the venue and opened fire on the theatre where more than 1000 fans had gathered to see the Californian band perform”. To have this happen in such a public area comes to a shock. At the time of the gunmen opening fire, the ‘public’ would have been frozen and paralysed of fear. This fear comes from the unknown and your immediate thoughts when you are placed in such terror are fight or flight. Either option that the mind chooses you throw out all private traits and you have to come together as one and support each other. Through this tragic event we saw what humans can do for other humans in ‘public’ supporting each other. Humans taking responsibility for each other. The band went on to later say “Although bonded in grief with the victims, the fans, the families, the citizens of Paris, and all those affected by terriosm, we are proud to stand together, with our new family, now united by a common goal of love and compassion”. This type of ‘publics’ doesn’t relate much towards online public’s but it shows what the ‘public’ can do in situations that they have rarely faced before. Human love and support for each other needs to be more existent in the ‘publics’.
I like how you based this upon a super recent incident so we can all relate and is still so fresh. I wouldn’t even thought to use this for an example and it has really opened my eyes. Also that statement that “ We also linked back to our blogging in regards to creating public opinions, arguments and general conversation whether it would be formal or informal text.” I think this is super relevant in the way that people can’t even distinguished what they are publishing anymore in regards to how private something is.
“Also so Human love and support for each other needs to be more existent in the ‘publics’”. 110% AGREE
