#TwitTerrorista

The revolutions springing up from Arab countries the past few months has been spurred on by social media. The oppressed peoples of the Libya, Egypt, Iran and Syria turned to social media to reach out to the world and fight back against the governments. Social media was their window to freedom and the fire to their revolution.  


Mexican's have also faced media censure and oppression. Unlike other countries, Mexican's have been silenced not only by government bodies but by the powerful and violent drug cartels that rule the nation.  

A man and a woman were found hanging over a busy
motor way with signs attached to them stating,
"This will happen to all the internet snitches. Be warned,
we've go our eye on  you. Signed, Z." 

Lorne Matalon, a Mexican journalist for Public Radio International's the World spoke about the censorship to students at Gaylord college. 


According to the OU Daily, "He said reporters in Mexico every day ask themselves if the story they’re pursuing is worth the risk — the risk being their lives — because the cartels are watching, which is why some newspapers have resorted to self-censoring, meaning they only print stories unrelated to cartel activities, and any stories published about the cartels are direct government statements."


With journalists censoring themselves, citizens have taken the role of information providers into their own hands through social media.  Like the professional journalists, their lives are now at stake. 

Andrés Monroy-Hernández/Nexos MagazineA visualization of frequently used words on Twitter streams used to collect news--the New York Times

Citizens have taken to using Twitter and blogs to share information about the drug cartels that have taken control of their country.  According to the New York Times, Mexican citizens will use specific hash tags on Twitter about specific violent events in an area so that everyone know where the violence is, when it happened and who was possibly involved.  Cartels have retaliated by dumping bodies in public areas and sending messages to those using crowd-sourcing methods to keep tabs on the drug world. Although the facts on these cases are still being debated on whether it is corrupt government officials or drug cartels carrying out these social media murders, innocent people are still being killed. 


I've already discussed this topic before, although from the journalist perspective, but am I the only one that feels that there is a lot of talk about the drug war but no action? Everyday I hear more and more about the violence and corruption in Mexico.  Perhaps this topic hits home a bit more for me than others, but I think it should hit home to more people. The United States shares more than a border with Mexico. Also, this drug war may affect Mexicans more because they see and feel the effects of the violence, but where do the drugs go? Who are the consumers? 


I recommend reading this post on The Lede by Robert Mackey. The information he has compiled is very interesting.


What are your thoughts?