FACEBOOK SEBAGAI KATUP PENYELAMAT

FACEBOOK SEBAGAI KATUP PENYELAMAT
Oleh: Baiq Lily Handayani, S.Sos
Staff Pengajar Sosiologi Universitas Jember

Terdapat sebuah budaya baru pada masyarakat Indonesia, khususnya dalam hal media menyalurkan aspirasi. Jika dulu, masyarakat menyalurkan aspirasi lewat parpol, media massa, atau dengan cara unjuk rasa turun ke jalanan. Namun saat ini tidak hanya itu yang dipakai sebagai media untuk menyalurkan aspirasi. Salah satunya adalah dengan memanfaatkan media jejaring sosial facebook.
Menurut data statistik yang dilansir CheckFacebook.com, jumlah pengguna Facebook di Indonesia telah masuk 10 besar jumlah pengguna Facebook terbesar di dunia. Indonesia bertengger di peringkat tujuh, mengalahkan Australia, Spanyol, dan Kolombia di peringkat 10.
Bahkan ketika terjadi kasus-kasus besar dalam negeri ini, seperti kasus Bibit dan Chandra, jutaan facebooker memberikan dukungan mereka terhadap kedua orang pejabat KPK tersebut. Apa yang dilakukan oleh facebooker cukup memberikan pengaruh terhadap pola pengambilan keputusan oleh pemerintah.
Demikian juga ketika terdapat kasus yang menimpa Prita Mulyasari. Seorang pasien RS Omni Internasional yang diponis bersalah karena telah mengirimkan email kepada teman-temannya tentang keluhannya terhadap pelayanan RS Omni Internasional. Jutaan facebooker memberikan dukungan kepada Prita, baik itu dukungan-dukungan moril, maupun menggalang opini untuk membela Prita. Bahkan ketika Prita dikenai tuntutan perdata dengan membayar sebanyak Rp. 204 juta. Masyarakat menggalang dukungan lewat facebook dengan membuat akun -koin untuk Prita-, hasil dari pengumpulan koin tersebut bahkan mencapai Rp. 500 juta lebih.
Lalu mengapa masyarakat menggunakan facebook sebagai media penggalangan opini dan penyampai aspirasi alternatif? Berikut beberapa alasan mengapa facebook dianggap sebagai media yang cukup efektif saat ini:

Media facebook telah dipakai oleh berbagai kalangan di Indonesia, dan sebagian besar adalah kalangan menengah ke atas. Sehingga, opini-opini tersebut lebih mudah dipantau oleh penentu kebijakan di Indonesia.
Peran media dalam memblow up opini-opini yang ada di facebook juga sangat besar, bahkan beberapa media sering menerima pendapat secara online dari facebooker.
Melalui media facebook semua orang bisa menyalurkan unek-uneknya, aspirasinya, ketidaksetujuannya, atau bahkan fakta-fakta yang ada di masyarakat bisa diungkap melalui dunia facebook. Sehingga semua orang merasa mempunyai posisi di dunia facebook, tidak ada yang berkuasa dan dikuasai.
Membuat gerakan di facebook lebih gampang daripada berdemostrasi di jalan raya. Selain tidak mengganggu ketertiban umum juga tidak harus berpanas-panasan. Oleh karena itu facebook bisa dikatakan sebagai parlemen, yaitu parlemen dunia maya. Namun bukan berarti aksi jalanan tidak penting lagi.
Jumlah pengguna facebook di Indonesia sangat banyak, sehingga sangat memudahkan untuk menggalang aksi solidaritas melalui facebook.
Facebook memungkinkan penggunanya berpartisipasi walaupun sedang berada diluar daerah. Artinya facebook sangat mobile.
Menggunakan facebook sangat mudah dan murah, bisa diakses dimanapun dan kapanpun baik melalui media komputer maupun HP. Bahkan sambil tidur-tiduran pun bisa.

Harus diakui aksi dukung mendukung dari dunia maya ini mampu menekan pemerintah, khususnya dalam kasus Bibit dan Chandra, presiden kemudian membentuk tim 8. Munculnya aksi solidaritas yang cukup besar ini bisa dikatakan merupakan tanda bangkitnya kekuatan masyarakat sipil yang harus diperhitungkan oleh yang berkuasa karena dukungan itu bisa saja berbuah menjadi people power.

Bentuk-bentuk kebangkitan rakyat seperti yang diperlihatkan di Facebook merupakan reaksi atas tersumbatnya saluran demokrasi resmi. Sekaligus reaksi terhadap kartel politik yang dipertontonkan partai politik dengan koalisi besarnya. Partai politik yang sejatinya alat perjuangan rakyat lebih doyan bersekutu dengan penguasa.
Demikian juga dengan anggota DPR, mereka pun tidak bisa lagi diharapkan sebagai penyalur aspirasi rakyat. Sebab 75% DPR bersatu dengan pemerintah. Akibatnya, timbul perlawanan yang luas melalui Facebook.

Begitu banyaknya permasalahan yang datang bertubi-tubi dalam negara ini, membuat gerah masyarakat. Selain masalah politik, hukum, Kesehatan dan hak asasi manusia, juga berimbas kepada kondisi sosial ekonomi masyarakat.

Kegerahan masyarakat atas polemik-polemik tersebut menimbulkan sebuah isu yang cukup besar yaitu akan adanya aksi people power yang akan mengepung istana presiden. Namun, terbukti itu tidak terjadi.

Facebook dalam hal ini sebagai media penyalur aspirasi, dimana semua orang bisa mengungkapkan opininya, memungkinkan aksi-aksi jalan menjadi terkurangi. Banyak orang yang menganggap media facebook lebih efektif dibanding turun ke jalan. Atau sudah tersalurkannya aspirasi masyarakat melalui facebook bisa meminimalisir gejolak-gejolak emosi masyarakat.

Oleh karena itu facebook bisa menjadi media safety valve (katup penyelamat). Katup penyelamat merupakan salah satu mekanisme khusus yang dapat dipakai untuk mempertahankan kelompok dari kemungkinan konflik sosial. Katup penyelamat membiarkan lupan permusuhan tersalur tanpa menghancurkan struktur, konflik membantu membersihkan suasana dalam kelompok yang sedang kacau. Coser (dalam Poloma, 2000: 108) melihat katup penyelamat berfungsi sebagai “jalan keluar yang meredakan permusuhan”, yang tanpa itu hubungan-hubungan diantara pihak-pihak yang bertentangan akan semakin tajam.

Dengan demikian katup penyelamat dalam hal ini facebook dapat memberikan ruang bagi pengungkapan rasa tidak puas terhadap struktur. Sehingga aksi-aksi brutal atau unjuk rasa besar-besaran bisa diminimalisir.

Akan tetapi, katup penyelamat ini hanya berfungsi sebagai media penyalur saja. Dia tidak bisa menghilangkan masalah yang sebenarnya. Facebook hanya berfungsi menguatkan opini, menggalang aksi solidaritas. Oleh karena itu tindakan-tindakan praktis lainnya masih tetap diperlukan untuk menyelesaikan konflik itu sendiri.

Dalam kasus masyarakat Indonesia, tindakan cepat dari presiden, kepolisian, dan pihak-pihak yang terkait harus tetap dilaksanakan. Karena tanpa itu, facebook justru akan menjadi media propaganda untuk menggalang aksi turun ke jalan (people power).

* Tulisan ini pernah dimuat oleh majalah kampus Universitas jember, 2010

baru punya laptop

tragedi beli laptop yang salah, malam beli cash, pagi langsung mati. makanya langsung ganti beli lagi yang lebih bagus, lebih baru dan lebih hebat.

Financial Crisis

US FINANCIAL CRISIS

'The World As We Know It Is Going Down'

By Marc Pitzke in New York

Panic is the word of the hour on Wall Street. Now even Morgan Stanley is fighting for survival. The commercial bank Wachovia and China's Bank Citic are being discussed as possible rescuers. The crisis has led President Bush to cancel a trip.

REUTERS

For traders, now might just be the worst of times.

The original plan actually called for humor. On Wednesday evening, actress Christy Carlson Romano was supposed to ring the closing bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to mark her debut in the Broadway musical "Avenue Q." She plays two roles on stage -- a romantic kindergarten assistant, and a slutty nightclub singer.

After that day on the floor, the stock traders could have used a bit of comic relief. But it was not to be. Instead of Christy Carlson Romano, a NYSE employee in a joyless gray suit stood on the balcony and silently pressed a button. The bell rang and he disappeared. No waving, no clapping, none of the usual jubilation.

By the end of Wednesday, no one here was in the mood for laughter. The bad news on Wall Street was coming thick and fast. All the US indexes were crashing again after Tuesday's brief and deceptive breather. In its wild, rollercoaster ride, the Dow Jones lost about 450 points, which was almost as much as it lost on Monday, the most catastrophic day on US markets since 2001.

Investors were turning their back to the market in droves and fleeing to safer pastures. The price of gold broke its record for the highest increase in a one-day period.

Panic Is the Word of the Hour

Traders abandoned the NYSE temple visually defeated and immune to the TV crews waiting. The disastrous closing prices were flickering on the ticker above the NYSE entrance: American Express -8.4 percent; Citigroup -10.9 percent; JPMorgan Chase -12.2 percent. American icons, abused like stray dogs. Even Apple took a hit.

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"I don't know what else to say," stammered one broker, who was consoling himself with white wine and beer along with some colleagues at an outdoor bar called Beckett's. Ties and jackets were off, but despite the evening breeze, you could still make out the thin film of sweat on his forehead. His words captured the speechlessness of an industry.

Things got worse after the markets closed. Washington Mutual, America's fourth-largest bank, announced that it had started the process of putting itself up for sale. The Wall Street Journal reported that both Wells Fargo and the banking giant Citigroup were interested in taking over the battered American savings bank.

And then came the announcement that would dominate all of Thursday's market activities: Morgan Stanley -- the venerable Wall Street institution and one of the last two US investment banks left standing -- had lost massive amounts and was fighting for survival. Media reports were saying that it was even in talks about a possible bail-out or merger. Rumor had it that possible suitors might include Wachovia or China's Bank Citic.

China?

"Folks," economist Larry Kudlow, a host on the business channel CNBC begged his viewers that evening, "don't give up on this great country!"

End of an Era

In fact, it really does look as if the foundations of US capitalism have shattered. Since 1864, American banking has been split into commercial banks and investment banks. But now that's changing. Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch -- overnight, some of the biggest names on Wall Street have disappeared into thin air. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are the only giants left standing. Despite tolerable quarterly results, even they have been hurt by mysterious slumps in prices and -- at least in Morgan Stanley's case -- have prepared themselves for the end.

"Nothing will be like it was before," said James Allroy, a broker who was brooding over his chai latte at a Starbucks on Wall Street. "The world as we know it is going down."

Many are drawing comparisons with the Great Depression, the national trauma that has been the benchmark for everything since. "I think it has the chance to be the worst period of time since 1929," financing legend Donald Trump told CNN. And the Wall Street Journal seconds that opinion, giving one story the title: "Worst Crisis Since '30s, With No End Yet in Sight."

But what's really happening? Experts have so far been unable to agree on any conclusions. Is this the beginning of the end? Or is it just a painful, but normal cycle correcting the excesses of recent years? Does responsibility lie with the ratings agencies, which have been overvaluing financial institutions for a long time? Or did dubious short sellers manipulate stock prices -- after all, they were suspected of having caused the last stock market crisis in July.

The only thing that is certain is that the era of the unbridled free-market economy in the US has passed -- at least for now. The near nationalization of AIG, America's largest insurance company, with an $85 billion cash infusion -- a bill footed by taxpayers -- was a staggering move. The sum is three times as high as the guarantee provided by the Federal Reserve when Bear Stearns was sold to JPMorgan Chase in March.

The most breathtaking aspect about this week's crisis, though, is that the life raft -- which Washington had only previously used to bail out the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- is being handed out by a government whose party usually fights against any form of government intervention. The policy is anchored in its party platform.

"I fear the government has passed the point of no return," financial historian Ron Chernow told the New York Times. "We have the irony of a free-market administration doing things that the most liberal Democratic administration would never have been doing in its wildest dreams."

Bush Cancels Trip

The situation appears to be so serious that George W. Bush cancelled two domestic trips he had planned for Thursday on short notice. Instead, the president will remain in Washington to discuss the "serious challenges confronting US financial markets." He said the president remained focused on "taking action to stabilize and strengthen the markets." Bush had originally planned to travel to events in Florida and Alabama.

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So far, the US presidential candidates have made few helpful remarks about the crisis other than the usual slogans. Both are vaguely calling for "regulation" and "reform" -- bland catchphrases almost universally welcomed with applause.

Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain had the most to say. On Monday, he said "the foundation of our economy" was "strong," adding that he opposed a government-led bailout of US insurer AIG. But now he's promising further government steps "to prevent the kind of wild speculation that can put our markets at risk." McCain's explanation for the current crisis: "unbridled corruption and greed."

But Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama didn't move past superficialities, either. "We're Americans. We've met tough challenges before and we can again."

What else are they supposed to say? After all, US presidents have very little influence on stockmarkets. And Wall Street is expecting the status quo for the next president. On Wednesday an almost palpable mix of tension and melancholy filled the air above New York's Financial District. The beloved trader bar Bull Run was half empty, and many tables were free at fine-dining establishments like Cipriani, Mangia and Bobby Van's, which are normally booked days in advance.

At the side entrance to Goldman Sachs on Pearl Street, limo chauffeurs sat waiting for their customers, still above in their office towers cowering over the accounts. "If they go under," said Rashid Amal, who works as a chauffeur for a firm called Excelsior, "then I will soon be out of a job, too."