How Facebook CHangesd the World: The Arab Spring

       The Arab Spring was a series of revolutions made possible by Facebook which started in Tunisia. It all started with a young fruit seller who had had enough of the government and the corrupt police. After an encounter with police brutality he set himself on fire as a form of protest. This event inspired a protest against the government and dictator Ben Ali. Once big crowds gathered the people lost their fear and started to spout their views openly. When the police arrived what started as a peaceful protest, became a street war. Yet almost everyone in the crowd had a cell phone and many recorded the riot. The police was trying to arrest people with cell phones but many were hidden in strategic places where they could film. These videos were uploaded via Facebook and went viral. In the end, Tunisia was able to get rid of their dictator and this inspired their nations to revolutionize. From Morocco to Yemen, the citizens were trying to overthrow their government. Another successful revolution was and Egypt and like Tunisia it was made possible because of the Internet. The Internet was the safest place to express their views because other than governmental WebPages, the leaders did not pay much attention to it. 

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       The series of revolutions in the Arab world known as “The Arab Spring” are examples of the contagion theory of collective behavior. This theory states that the hypnotic power of a crowd forces people to abandon their individuality to the stronger pull of the group. This can be seen in a smaller scale and in a larger scale. In Tunisia, for example, the people finally lost their fear of voicing their opinion when they were in the crowd. This is because the crowd gave them power and they weren’t individual people anymore, they were anonymous. One can also argue that the chain effect that this revolution had is part of collective behavior. When people in other countries saw how Tunisia got rid of their dictator it encouraged them to do the same thing.

       The cause of these particular social movements can be debatable. One is relative depravation theory. This could apply because the citizens of these nations felt deprived of rights. This may have triggered but the reason some of the revolutions were successful were due to resource-mobilization theory. Without the help of educated Tunisians, computer experts and the internet (Facebook), the Arab Spring would not have been as successful as it was. This is because the way the revolutionaries were able to operate was through the internet and they were able to show the rest of the world what was really going on.

       Social movements like these are the ones that usually bring the best for the people. Tunisia got rid of her oppressor in just a few days. This would have never been possible without the internet. One single event can inspire many people to fight for their rights but without the resources needed, even the noblest revolution will fail.