Vortex of the Web. Potentials of the online environment

From Spiral of Silence to Nexus of Noise:
The latest - and maybe most revealing - example of the populist, social media-oriented modus operandi of Austria's new government has been provided by Karoline Edtstadler, Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and member of Kurz' movement/party/personality cult. In perfect coherence to Colin Crouch (2004) and his definition of the post-democratic condition, she justified a controversially discussed law reform regarding sexual delinquents as corresponding to a perceived notion of natural justice that she declared to deduce directly from respective postings on Facebook and Twitter in the course of an interview on February 5, 2018 (Mayer, 2018).
It seems that the deduction is free from consideration of the unarguably limited ability for any of the strongly emotional content generated on these social media channels to produce balanced and objective views and arguments - next to presenting distorted representations of a perceived public opinion generated by algorithms - as well as acknowledgment of considerable criticism of opposing law experts. Similar to the somehow misleading idea of direct democracy in form of a referendum or vote, the conception of Edtstadler - stressing her obligation to push the agendas of anonymously acting shot callers on selected communication platforms as a primary guideline for her political mandate - unmistakenly demonstrates the post-democratic, populist conception of the politician as a faithful servant to the dictate of an intentionally perceived - or even self-adjusted - majority. Borrowing from the Crusaders, the convenient justification Facebook lo vult - Mob willing - comes into mind. Interestingly enough, only a few days later, the opportunist character of Kurz and his right-wing coalition partner was further underlined by the demonstrated determination to simply ignore a petition signed by more than 500.000 citizens that opted for a continuation of a general smoking

Dr. Martin Abdel Matin Gansinger (born 1979 in Austria) studied Communication Science and Political Science at the University of Vienna. He is currently holding the position of Head of Department / Public Relations at Girne American University.
Dr. Ayman Kole (born 1980 in Sydney, Australia) studied English, Literature, History, and Creative Writing at Charles Sturt University. He currently holds an academic position at Cyprus Science University.