Elections '08 have brought into focus the role of bloggers and web communities in influencing the course of the political debate. I often hear the question "Who could have predicted...?"
Surprisingly, there is a good answer.
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card's novel written in 1985, was prescient in seeing this world. The book is about a futuristic society in which humans are under attack from an alien species, nicknamed the "buggers". Humankind's only hope may be Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who is recruited into military pre-school at the age of six (yup, military training begins pretty damn early in this world). Ender's saga of overcoming the increasingly difficult situations his teachers put him through in order to emerge as a leader who not only commands the loyalty of his troops but also understands and empathizes with the enemy is one of the best fictional stories of leadership, compassion and morality I've read.
But that apart, what stood out for me in this book was the important parallel story of Ender's siblings, his evil-genius brother Peter and his caring sister Valentine. While Ender is in battle school, Peter and Valentine gain access to "the nets" using their parents' accounts and post their opinions on world politics and military using the pseudonyms "Locke" & "Demosthenes". As the names suggest, Locke is a moderate and empathizes with the state's enemies, whereas Demosthenes is a paranoid xenophobe. Both of them soon become well known names on the nets, and start affecting policy debates.
Eventually, Peter uses his influence on the nets to propose a treaty, and later in the other books of the Ender series, we see Peter's rise to the position of the "hegemon", the supreme political leader. Which makes me wonder if in our lifetimes we'll see a presidential candidate whose primary claim to fame is that of being a blogger!
The book also offers good tips on becoming an influential blogger. At one point Peter tells his sister: " "We can't learn how our style of writing is working unless we get response - and if we're bland nobody will answer." When Valentine asks him about why anyone would care for their opinions, Peter's insightful response is that "Talent rises to the top".
So if you aspire to be an influential blogger, or are simply curious to know where the world of blogging will go in the future, look no further than Ender's Game to find all your answers.
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