September 3, 2007...6:12 pm
Appeal On You Tube…….
John Howard the Australian PM has uploaded a video on You Tube requesting people not to take part in any violent protests during the Apec trade summit in Sydney.
There can be two ways of looking at it-
The positive is that he has chosen an effective and inexpensive medium to connect with his people. Appearing in a TV ad would be wasting taxpayers’ money. The candidates of the US elections candidates are using ‘YouTube’ as an effective tool so why not Howard. Australia is a developed country and technology is available to most Australians. It is a clever move.
Now the negative part. I tried to watch it. It was pretty boring. One reason could be I have difficulty in understanding Australian accent. We are more used to the American accent. The other reason is that it is too long and Howard is no Clinton. He doesn’t have charisma. I don’t believe that the protestors will change their mind after watching Howard’s appeal. In any case people in Sydney are suffering due to the security arrangements.
This is as far as the Australians go, if we think in terms of India, if Manmohan Singh used You Tube to convince people for the nuclear deal, will it work? BJP and the Left will join hands again to condemn it, BJP in the name of swadesi and Left because You Tube is a sign of American dominance :) and our dear old Manmohanji will waste lakhs of rupees on newspaper ads and TV commercials. The result would be the same anyway because in most cases, we protest to make news- issues don’t matter.
7 Comments
September 3, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Hi Pr3na
I can be the first to comment for once
John Howard is no stranger to wasting money on conventional advertising, as he has done for this event in addition to the youtube adventure. (I think he has spend billions of $ since his regime came to power). Last time he made a youtube video, people used the comments facility to let him know exactly what they thought of him. His government has a good propaganda facility there…
Youre right, the video wont deter protesters for two reasons: 1 They are irrational, 2 He didn’t say anything they dont already know. I think here too they protest to make the news thats why they tip over police cars and that sort of thing…I dont think they will get away with much this time though. Sydney looks tighter that the bagdad green zone.
And don’t worry, nobody can really understand Howard
(but the aussie accent can be difficult - I asked somebody for directions in India once and they asked me to speak English!!!)
I wonder what costumes they will wear for the photo this time?
Paul
September 4, 2007 at 8:38 am
good idea for a developing economy but majorly it will fail cause
1. most voters dont know what u tube is and neither have a hand in making decisions
2. Manmohan deserves it to an extent cause he has from start got it all wrong
he has played to the cpim benches too much and started a mini war with the bjp n allys
so much so that relations between opposition and govt are not on tkg terms
3. He is backstabbed by his own party members and upa members and has to ask for every policy decision to his mentor
4. mostly the whole deal is said to doom
September 4, 2007 at 8:56 am
Politics, like tyres, needs to be intubated, as a first step to resuscitation!
September 4, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Paul I guess they will be in swimming costumes this time for the photograph. The location would be Bondi beach.
I agree with you Prax Manmohan singh deserves it.
Thanks rambodoc.
September 4, 2007 at 12:30 pm
There’s a little difference in the Indian context. Even if the opposition parties (Reds included) like the concept of you tube, they cannot support it because they have defined themselves to be seen as groups opposing anything MMS does.
He was never the ‘person in charge’.
Yea MMS deserves it, thats different
September 5, 2007 at 12:57 am
Prax wanted an explanation of what I said about intubation above.
Nothing much, Prax! It was a twist-off from ‘You Tube’ (the topic) and ‘tubeless tyres’; intubation refers to the process of reviving a dying person. Hence, ‘politics needs to be intubated’.
September 5, 2007 at 12:32 pm
The medium of communication has to match the target audience. In India, no political message can be effective without taking it to the streets.
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