It's an obvious and overused fact that techonolgy has changed the world we live in. It has affected pretty much everything that exists today. But the way in which it has affected the current GOP race has been particularly interesting- an different from many other races. Technology has not only been used as a wealth of information, or a way of relaying facts. It has been used to start comical campaigns, and snarky paradys of the candidates.
NPR talks about this issue in specific regard to Rick Santorum. A humorous website making fun of his radical anti-gay beliefs (He once compared being gay to being a pedofile) has been created by gay rights activists.
What makes this blog interesting is that it is the first link to appear when you google Santorum's name. It comes before his Wikipedia page, and any current news articles regarding his campaign. In fact, there are teams clicking on the political stunt many times a day to keep it the most visited site- and on top of the Google search page. Santorum refers to this as his "Google Problem" and it is certainly a new problem-one that many have nver had to face. Is it fair that when ignorant people are curious about Santorum, and google him, they find a campaign against him before they found unbiased information? Or is the fact that it is so popular telling of his beliefs, and therefore an earned punishment? A reaction to a statement that Santorum himself made?
Allison, what an interesting post! I would have to agree with your title that technology is COMPLETELY a political game changer. It was surprising to me that when one would Google his name, the blog came before Wikipedia. Maybe this shows what the people are really interested in. Maybe people are entertained by this site. It must popular or else I would imagine it wouldn't be the first thing that pops up. I think this says a lot about our society, that we are willing to make fun of someone so much to the extent that the first thing that pops up is a campaign against him.
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