Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant [radio edit] to me you see/Straight up racist/that sucker was Simple and plain/Mother [radio edit] him and John Wayne…
-Chuck D, Public Enemy, “Fight the Power”
If the 2016 election taught me anything, it’s that people don’t realize the ineffective nature of slacktivism. It’s not enough to just post things to social media, to change profile pictures, etc. Effective change can’t be brought through simply using social media.
Of course this is sort of a double-edged sword of a situation. There are smart ways to use social media for change. The problem is when people stop at a simple post or changing a profile picture (I recall an eight month or so period where it was hard to determine who was who on my Facebook feed because everyone was changing their profile picture to protest this and that and the other). While I have argued in various places that actions in digital space have real consequences (just as, I don’t know, almost everyone who studies digital media production and digital rhetoric has). But slacktivism is pretty much the least a person can do.
Two sad realities come to bear when looking at social media slacktivism. The first is the more obvious thing: people often post in ways that make them appear, to the reader, as more politically active, enlightened, activist, etc. however one might want to think of it. This makes appearing socially conscious a rhetorical choice in building a brand. It’s insidious, and those who do it, I hope, eventually feel some sense of shame.
The other reality scares me more. I’m afraid a generation is starting to think that Facebook posts, Tweets and Snapchats are enough, that digital protest, for example, is enough.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to be a “those youngsters and their crazy posting!” person or claim that being overt about causes on social media is wrong. I post about a number of things myself.
But this is one of the few places where we have to teach people that they need to do more. Being upset and expressing that you are upset is all well and good, but if you’re reading the news, this world (and our country in particular) is getting more and more contentious. There are fights coming that are going to define life for the next generations.
I hope, when it’s time for people to stand up, we don’t see empty streets and floods of Tweets. I hope that people aren’t so busy curating their Facebook status that they aren’t up in people’s faces. The key to activism is “active.” Activity.
Be present.