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The Power of Information Cascade in Culture and Political Movement

https://www.ft.com/content/6973e6d6-d047-11e7-9dbb-291a884dd8c6

 

Information cascade has been ubiquitous; its power of application has been applied to many political events, especially tracing back to the 2017 Trump election. Americans still remembered the weeks before the election where waves of sexual harassment scandals have emerged. From Charlie Rose, TV interviewer for Davos set to the Democrat senator, Al Franken, the chain reactions on sexual misconduct allegations from celebrities in political and entertain have been spread out wildly. It was bizarre that all scandals have been revealed now instead of previous terms. However, the widespread reckoning in 2017 makes junior women and men who suffered have a brand-new opportunity to fight back and expresses their voices. This is all due to the power of digital information cascades.

As information can be spread in the lightspeed which could go beyond the control of traditional authorities, information cascades can somehow overturn the power structures by immediately putting isolated victims into a congregated crowd that takes place in a virtual world. Furthermore, as President Donald Trump becomes the time bomber after the sexual harassment record has been exposed, the information cascade empowered feminists to get more involved to political activities, such as woman marching, which is absolutely contrary to the prediction that the presence of Trump as the president would be bad for women. This becomes the catalyst for women to feel emboldened to speak out on sexual harassment which as the article indicated: “It has taken… a fierce moment of cultural reckoning for me to recognize these moments for what they were.”

However, information cascade is like a double sword; it helps the women to speak out as a group, but the backlash could also turn into a witch hunt, which could be utilized as a tool to hurt innocent people. People would be influenced by the decision of speaking out their personal experience so that they would condemn the people who are not willing to be put in a vulnerable position in the public.  The risk of social media violence that comes with information cascade could potentially devastate an innocent man or any public figure. Hence, the information cascade is effective; it is an unavoidable factor that leads to the current trend of gathering people together to direct toward unity and homogenized opinion. Perceiving things critically is still crucial while recognizing the power of the information cascade.

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