imajes posts a response to an earlier Smart Mobs item, Emergent Democracy? or Cultivated Dissent?. [Link]

In the UK it’s not uncommon for national tabloids to come out in support for a party a week before the national (general) elections - usually in the biggest and boldest way possible. That’s cultivated dissent. Emergent democracy is the pub meet which convinces 100 people that voting for a candidate is a bad idea.

Online - it’s not different. The emergent democracy is from Talking Points Memo and the Daily Kos - whereas the the cultivated dissent comes from Yahoo! replacing their front page with a ‘vote Kerry’ front page. The democracy comes from the blogs who argue their points with eloquence. Dissent comes from the shock-tactic approach of bold headlines.