Social activism. When one ponders upon these two words what exactly comes into mind? In my mind, I visualize picket fences and mobs, screaming for justice. Parades of people united under one cause, blow horns sounding and even violence. In our Black Social Movements class, we have heard of and witnessed the many ways social activism is brought to life. Particularly in a video depicting Marcus Garvey and his plight for Black Exodus and the colonization of Africa.
Nowadays, things are different. In a society where we receive more texts than letters, more tweets than phone calls and spend more time glued to the screen than having coffee or tea in someone elses' living room, it only makes sense that our movements towards social activism would parallel society's changes. I, for one, am guilty of such but one cannot help the age in which we were all raised: the Technological Era.
Have I taken part in "social network activism"? Well, yes and no.
Yes because I have taken it upon myself to join some facebook groups pertaining to topics of my interest such as "1,000,000 For Obama!" or "Click to Save Children in Haiti" and more along those same lines. If it shows up on my Facebook newsfeed and I feel connected to it, why wouldn't I join?
No because, well, let's face it. How does joining a group supporting Obama really help his cause? Not being 18, I wasn't able to vote. I did no campaigning. I may have talked to my friends about why I supported him and his platform but in reality me supporting him electronically did nothing to sway any others towards his cause. Sure I want to help starving homeless children in Haiti after the natural disaster destroyed the livelihoods of the many. But was I spreading the word and gaining support? Did I really help anyone?
The sad, sad answer is no, I really don't think by clicking and joining the group I did much (if anything) to support the actual cause. Everything nowadays is made to our convenience. We are able to shop online and have it shipped to our door rather than driving to the mall to look for clothes. We can take online courses rather than going to school and sitting in a classroom to listen to lecture. Rather than mailing our college applications, everything is done online. Social activism is no different.
Older generations may criticize our current "lazy" predicament with good reason. Yet, when everything else around us is constantly shifting towards more easy and convenient methods, why should fighting for a social cause be any different? I believe that social networks cannot be the only method of fighting for a cause. When used as a helpful tool to bring a cause to attention, it can be highly beneficial. Without physical, and I mean rallies and blow horns and passionate speeches, follow ups a cause will collapse under the meager foundation that is social network activism.
"Nowadays, things are different. In a society where we receive more texts than letters, more tweets than phone calls and spend more time glued to the screen than having coffee or tea in someone elses' living room, it only makes sense that our movements towards social activism would parallel society's changes."
ReplyDeleteI appreciate this from your second paragraph. You worded this so nicely. No one can read this and disagree. Yes, social movements are changing, but in a world where everything changes everyday almost, how can you expect social movements to stay the same. I can also agree with the liking of facebook movements. Read, like, click, maybe visit the page and never think about it again...but those likes add up as thousands more do the same thing and a movement changes once thousands all agree that this movement is apparently agreed upon by many people. I wonder if Obama's campaign would have been as big and as noteworthy as it was if it was not publicized on facebook, twitter and other social networks.