Deepam Kapadia Week 5: Posting Is Not Doing.
When we prepared for the American Identity and Voice Essay—our first synthesis essay—we explored the idea of what makes someone American.
The first source that we explored was “March March,” a music video. The most intriguing aspect is how The Chicks represented a key part of American Identity: activism. The video featured montages of movements that were instrumental to the society we live in today, like the women’s rights movement, the LGBTQ rights movement, and the Black Lives Matter movement. The activists spanned the racial, gender, and age spectrum, uniting the people of the United States under one common idea: to bring change to the society they live in.
In a time when activism is so accessible, there will always be people who seek to appear more involved than they truly are. This behavior is slacktivism, an attempt to gain societal acceptance and moral credit through low cost gestures without a real outcome.
Our society has a multitudinous number of dire issues. The “E” Files. The genocide in Palestine. The assault of Jane Doe at Cornell University. In no way is this a comprehensive list.
Now, think about how we fight these issues.
By making a TikTok account and posting content with the same repetitive format? By reposting an Instagram post? By texting the account of a university “SA not ESSAY?” By responding to the Instagram prompt, “Repost this on your story if you are against ra**?”
There’s some truth to this, but is it effective in making a change—the purpose of activism? Malcolm Gladwell, whose excerpt we drafted a thesis on in our RA Thesis Sprint, describes how the weak ties built by social media “seldom lead to high-risk activism.” In fact, society can pressure individuals to signal virtue—as shown through the Instagram prompt mentioned above—desensitizing other people to the idea.
Tracing back to my first point, the TikTok account named “WE ARE JANE DOE” appears to be harmless at first. Upon closer inspection, cracks begin to form. Each post made (yes, I checked) compares the follower count of the “WE ARE JANE DOE” account with the account of Cornell University. There is no call to action. There is no real “justice” being made for the victim. Only a sketchy payhip.com link.
There are many different ways to support a cause you feel strongly about, even those which don’t require money. While spamming a social media account may be ineffective, taking the time to email leadership with a specific ask (like addressing Title IX policies) could result in a change in policy. The email is a message too, but it has a defined purpose and a real chance at change.
Low-effort activism will rarely lead to a meaningful change, especially actions which are superficial, existing only for social gratification and moral benefit.
10/10 rumination. 10/10 execution. Quite an insightful blog. Very rhetorical of you. Thank you for your invaluable contribution.
ReplyDeleteI remember you bringing this up during class, and I am so glad that you wrote more about it. I agree that the attempt to guilt-trip people into participating in a protest trend (if we can even call it that in the first place) will truly not bring change. Earlier, people used to advocate and protest for the media to make such information available worldwide. However, today people use this same technique without its physical impacts in an attempt to create a similar pressure. Oftentimes, such posts make people indifferent to the event itself, especially because the post markets that simply interacting with it can create change (which is also not true). It’s sad to see such activism. The Jane Doe trend will likely die as quickly as the awareness of the Epstein files did. Most people will either repost or discuss it for about a month before forgetting about it, and the trend finds a new event to publicize. The harsh realities faced by the victims or survivors mostly remain the same. Digital awareness, in this sense of engagement, will never truly be action. We have not helped them much at all (other than possibly providing comfort support). Thank you for bringing up this negative impact of social media’s awareness and problems regarding digital protests. Honestly, the protests in France and the rest of Europe bring hope that our generation is, in fact, capable of protesting like the older generations. Do you think that protesting physically is more effective in general? Or is it simply the laziness currently around digital protests that causes it to not have the same impact?
ReplyDeleteHi Deepam! I was seeing a lot about the Cornell case on my social media a few weeks ago. I noticed many on the internet take sides in this assault case. Like you I have also been questioning the sincerity and impact of these posts. In your blog you referenced how these posts could have the intention of awareness behind them, and that is also the conclusion that I came to. Is it better to not talk about these incidents at all? I personally do not post or repost things about activism. But I have always thought that people who did had a sort of courage for doing so? I mean, honestly, I never thought that reposting things about social issues really wins you any brownie points. Our generation values being “nonchalant” and caring about political or social justice issues online just breaks that facade. But it's not really effective for awareness, as you pointed out, if following counts are low or posts are not receiving that much attention. On the other hand, I think these posts about the Cornell case do slowly create an environment of aversion or distrust towards institutions like Cornell. When my for you page was filled with the news, slowly but surely, I started thinking about how many of these cases are covered up or go unheard in other universities. I started becoming more aware and sympathetic towards Jane Doe, and even subconsciously started formulating opinions on what exactly happened in the case. Even though the intention behind these posts may just be to hop on the trend, these little posts over time do cause the general public to understand bits and pieces of the case. Even though the phrase “We are Jane Doe” doesn’t really shed light on the specifics of the case, it still gets people used to seeing the case and making it a recognizable name. Also, that phrase specifically started so that people could not identify who Jane Doe was with a social media search, as many accounts would show up claiming that they are Jane Doe. But all in all I do agree with you that there are better ways to show activism and cause actual change. It is very low effort, and disconnected from the actual cause to publish a post. I will definitely be thinking about this blog the next time I see a social justice post!
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