Does Social Media Promote Cosmopolitanism?

Social Media Promotes Cosmopolitanism
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Title
Instructor
Date
Social Media Promotes Cosmopolitanism
Social media or the new media promotes cosmopolitanism as what has been witnessed in the recent historical examples with movements and causes such as the Iran elections of 2009, the Haiti earthquake of 2010, and the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street of 2011 (Chouliaraki & Blaagaard, 2012). Other movements and charity organizations have been established to assist those in need of aid in other countries through donations. Images of children suffering or people who are oppressed are shared through social media platforms that end up going viral. These events show how social media have exhibited the potential to change the nature of new journalism. While this nature of the new journalism has been celebrated across the world as a means of breaking the limits of traditional journalism, critics argue that this kind of cosmopolitanism might result in a change in the manner in which power operates in trans-national settings. Apart from power control observed in cosmopolitanism, sociologists have differed in the way social media might change how people interact and maintain relationships. This paper examines the two contrasting arguments of Kwame Appiah and Maria Konnikova and supports that social media is a powerful tool that promotes cosmopolitanism.
In “Making Conversation,” Kwame Appiah shows how the world become a global village where all cultures with different belief systems are connected through the tools of social media. Appiah’s essay is a reflection of the concept of globalization and cosmopolitanism as a way of understanding each other through holding a conversation. He explains that different cultures have unique standards and values they believe in and how some of these beliefs can be either accepted or rejected in other cultures. Appiah develops his concept from the theory of moral relativism where all cultures are understood to be unique and therefore respected from their basis of establishment. He shares his perspective that as a global society, there should be mutual respect of different cultures and making conversation as the start point (Appiah, 2013). In his words, Appiah argues that “Conversation doesn’t have to lead to consensus about anything, especially not values; it’s enough that it helps people get used to one another” (82). In the essay, Appiah makes his point that conversation should be an ingredient of understanding multicultural societies faced with challenges in coexisting in a divided world. The term cosmopolitan is in this context used to mean being part of a broader global community instead of being defined on the basis of a locality, tribe, or a nation. In this regard, Appiah’s essay tends to portray social media as a means to engage people from different backgrounds in a conversation for a cause. As seen in recent examples such as “AllBlacksMatter” of 2016, these movements encourage moral relativism that ensures equality of all humans. While these movement may spark privilege reactions among some members of the society, they are meant to defend the rights of those who have been denied jus...