Cameron vs. Twitter?

I am not a big believer in the idea that web-based social media is a revolutionary political tool. My fellow 20-somethings tend to embrace this idea because twitter et al. are so widely used in their social circles. I suspect that those in older demographics jump into social media because they see the 20-somethings doing it and don't want to feel old. But Facebook doesn't change the way people think, or the concerns they have about their political situation. It simply changes the speed at which ideas are exchanged.

Additionally, I have little patience for the claims that the current riots in London are a youth-led political movement in the vein of the Arab Spring. Unlike Tahrir,  the Tottenham riots represent the worst rather than the best potential of collective youth activity. The rioters are involved basically in theft and arson, not political activism. If your biggest political grievance is that you don't want to pay market value for a PS3, then you probably have no legitimate political grievances.

However, none of that means I'm OK with David Cameron's recent talk of disrupting UK access to social networks to combat the riots.

The freedom of communication among unindicted citizens is a vital cornerstone of Western ideas about democracy and human rights. To inhibit this freedom is a pretty bold step down a slippery slope towards (the obviously hyperbolic examples of) Minority Report and V for Vendetta.  Cameron's idea also flies full in the face of the conclusion that Norway so bravely reached after its recent experience with terrorism: that a free society shouldn't, for fear of the actions of one or a few, limit fundamentally the rights of a whole population.

I am probably one of a small number of Cameron supporters who is neither British, nor old and cranky. But if the Tories continue to exhibit this type of behavior, they won't be just a party primarily supported be old, cranky British people. They'll also be a party that only supports cranky old British people. And that's a problem.