Slacktivism is a disease, not a social advocacy

Slacktivism. There, I said it. It's when you try to advocate for something but how you are doing it is by pressing 'Share' on Facebook.

Almost everyone and their mothers saw the Kony 2012 video. Almost everyone and their mothers are outraged by the happenings in Central Africa. Why? Because they took 30 minutes out of their day to watch a video.

But why is that slacktivism? Because! Invisible Children is an amazing group that's been around for about 6 years. The use of child soldiers in Central Africa has been around for 20 years. Amnesty International has been around for 50 years. The local chapter on my campus has been around for about 6 years also. But nobody pays attention. It's the 'Kitty Genovese' scenario on crack- everyone thinks that everyone else is doing something about it, when in fact, very little are. For too long social activists have been trying to get the world (1st world societies) to pay attention, and for too long we have been ignored. And then a video shows up on line, 30 minutes is all it took for the gasps, sighs, and angry outcries to occur. But when you're trying to stop rape in the Congo, no one will stop to take 10-15 seconds out of their life to sign a petition.

That's a HUGE discrepancy. 30 minute video vs. 10-15 seconds to sign a petition.

Okay, okay, maybe it'll take a bit longer than 15 seconds. 1 minute to hear what we have to say, read a letter, and sign. That's a 29 minute difference!

And now, you all pay attention. And now, you all want to do something. Go ahead, click 'Share' - for some of us, that's our first step of action. As we have been fighting battles all too similar to this, we're just going to make this another topic that we're going to hit. But others, the slacktivists, they hit 'Share' because for about an hour they will be festering an outraged attitude towards Joseph Kony, but then it will fizzle it out.

So what's the difference between a 30 minute activist video and a 1 minute petition sign and letter reading? Well, besides 29 minutes, the difference is you are all just sitting there, on Facebook anyway, waiting for the next best story to pop up and here it is. Not like you have anything else to do? Food is right in front of you, right?

If you really want to do something, get off Facebook, do some research, learn about the movement, and join the fight. And this doesn't have to be about stopping Kony; LGBTQ rights are being infringed upon all over the world; women are being raped while people are losing their access to water; NDAA is being discussed and passed taking a way the 1st Amendment of the Constitution (FREE SPEECH, people).

You want to continue to frolic in the liberties you have as an American? Then stop pressing 'Share,' start joining local chapters of world wide organizations, be part of the bigger picture, start fighting for something because this is OUR world, and I'm not going down without a fight.


Some sites you should visit:
For the United States :http://www.amnestyusa.org/

For the global community: http://www.amnesty.org/

Invisible Children: http://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

NYPIRG: http://www.nypirg.org/