Chapter 6:Photoshop For Democracy

My section: Playing Politics in Alphaville and Vote Naked (227-239)
Main concepts:The Sims and collective intelligence,"vote naked"
Minor concepts: democracy & children, polarization, grassroot community

At the end of chapter 6, Jenkins discusses pop culture's influence on politics and democracy. Jenkins states that, "pop culture may be preparing the way for more meaningful public culture." An example of this is The Sims online game's fictional town "Alphaville."
Through the online game, consumers were able to use convergence culture for political activism. The game encouraged "players" to be active citizens.
Jenkins believes that in order to get young people to vote, we have to reach them earlier in life. The concept of democracy is exercised in the game. Children, who are not allowed to vote and may feel powerless in their everyday lives are able to use the fictional town to become active in a community. The game is not just a game, but it is a tool to motivate children and young children to become active and involved in their own communities.
In the section of "Vote Naked", the word "naked" defined as "raw", "exposed", and "vulnerable". Jenkins believes that we feel more comfortable discussing pop culture than politics. Politics is an uncomfortable subject for people, so they decide to keep their political views private. The fear of being "naked" may cause conflict in relationship.
The concept of polarization is mentioned in the end of the chapter. Polarization is a great part of American history. From the People from opposing sides caused heated debates that forced the nation to take a good look at the problem and create a solution. The negative side of polarization is the stigma each groups receives from the outside group and assumptions are made about about what each group's political beliefs. Polarization is an example as to why people are uneasy about discussing political beliefs.
Grassroots is another concept that is discussed at the end of the chapter. Grassroot communities involves the common people. They can be left or right and each group can have their own ideas and encourage their members to vote in their favor.But what if people do not vote? This all goes back to the notion of politics being viewed as complicated and many people are just not interested in it. Should Politics be apart of our everyday lifestyle? Should active community involvement(like in The Sims Online) be a requirement for citizenship?