Whatever you may think of the result of this particular campaign, or indeed its very existence, you cannot deny the implications of it. Not only does it have implications in Social Media, in the Music Industry and Popular Culture, but I believe in all forms of democracy.
And what if this campaign wasn't about getting Rage Against The Machine to Xmas #1, what if it was to "Bring back the death sentence in the UK", or "Vote Mad Raving Luny Party in the next General Election"... and what if it WORKED??
Is this a good thing? Does it mean the people are getting their say?
Lead Singer of Rage Against The Machine, Zack de le Rocha said "this represents the silent majority...". Is that right? Or did people get caught up in it? Did they just want to "stick it to the man"? Or had they all, all 600,000+ of them, been losing sleep over the fact that Simon Cowell's been running the Xmas charts for 5 years in a row?
I think we as a society, and we who represent the world of Social Media, have a duty to discover/learn/investigate this. And determine how best to utilise the power of Social Media for GOOD and not EVIL (I'm not saying Rage are evil, I LOVE RATM, have done for years).
And what of John & Tracey Mortimer...? They were clearly very aware of their social responsibilities during this campaign. They raised a massive £70,000 on their facebook page alone for the homelsess charity, Shelter. And RATM have promised to not only send proceeds from the single sales to a Charity, but also to perform a FREE concert in the UK in 2010. But what if this kind of power, this kind of movement, gets into the wrong hands? Will the public only get behind things they really care about, or will they just get caught up, follow the herd and make huge changes that are not representative of the people's true views?
Also, what about Social Pressure? Because a group exists, does that make the cause ok?
What do you think? This is more of a conversation starter than a blog post... get involved - I'd like to hear your thoughts.
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