conversation is an engine

Down with one-way messaging!

I’ve been talking with different folks about a theology of communication—how we’re made to dialogue rather than just politely accept one-way messages delivered from on high. The protests in Iran are a living and vivid demonstration of this very thing. People are finding each other to protest twisted election results and the government doesn’t like it. And yet—shouldn’t anyone in a position of leadership begin to expect this very behavior? The protests demonstrate Clay Shirky’s argument (Here Comes Everybody) that these new social media tools allow people to find each other, not just without the benefit a hierarchy of bosses and managers and leaders, but in direct opposition to the bureaucracy. Just think how this will continue to work its way out when we’re not threatened by government action. Searching and organizing will become the new norm. Maybe they already have.

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