Internet Activism

Internet activism has absolutely taken off in the last few years, with more and more content about political correctness and social justice ever present on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. My Facebook feed primarily consists of articles and statuses about current events and discussions related to racism, sexism, homo/transphobia, global politics, among other things (like memes!). I learn a lot about the world and how I can personally be better because of what my friends post. The accessible nature of short articles and statuses makes it easier to absorb information rapidly and informally, rather than sitting down to read some dense theory or a peer-reviewed journal article. 

I despise the term "social justice warrior" because I think it is usually misapplied. The SJW stereotype references ultra righteous activist types who make others feel guilty about being wrong or not PC-enough. However, here's a huge difference between people who share articles and opinions about social causes and people who put others down for being naive or uneducated. We should all steer clear of being condescending assholes on the internet and instead strive to make others and ourselves more aware of interesting topics, enlightening discussions, and social/political/economic ills that need to be dealt with. The term "social justice warrior" is really dismissive and often lumps well-meaning people together with the holier-than-thou activists, which is so unfair to those trying to respectfully raise awareness, start conversations, or just make people think. 

Overall, I think that internet activism breeds some negative consequences, primarily performative activism and righteousness/condescension. If you can say you're attending a protest/action online, people will think you went, and if you don't go you will still seem cool and engaged. Furthermore, you can simply share an article about racism or something without actually actively incorporating anti-racist values into your life. Call out culture on social media allows someone to perform their "goodness" regardless of how they act offline. People can also seem to get off on correcting others that know less than them, and can go about it in really rude ways that do nothing to start dialogue. 

However, I think internet activism overall is positive, benefits our society, and has contributed to a positive shift in our current episteme. The speed with which information can circulate on social media is astounding, so we absorb way more information and have the capacity to learn so much, so fast! Knowledge, political correctness, and progressive values can be picked up really quickly and passively. For example, words related to sexuality (queer/trans/femme/etc) or race (POC/WOC/latino/etc) and other identities and descriptors come pretty naturally to me at least partially because of the articles and news stories that show up on my feed and I read on a daily basis. On the contrary, my parents who are not only of an older generation than me, but also never use social media, and have to constantly learn what the current politically correct language is. This process does not come easily to them, even though they want to say and do the most respectful and considerate things. 

I think social media activism is really valuable and has the power to change our minds and our world. It also has the power to fall flat and not escape the confines of the Facebook timeline. It has the power to call out others, put them down, and make activism into a performance that solely yields shallow social capital. But as long as we're patient, respectful, and don't take ourselves too seriously we can and should use Facebook statuses, social justice clickbait, and other forms of online activism to make the world mildly better. What we call people matters, how we understand our economy matters, cultural appropriation matters, and how we frame and understand issues matters a whole lot. Accessibly written articles that circulate Facebook and Twitter should be taken seriously and analyzed in relation to our current discourse on social issues. The internet has caused an entire epistemological shift and yielded both beneficial and insidious outcomes. Demonizing social media is at once understandable, yet lazy. Despite all of the bad that can be found, social media allows us to sustain more inclusive and progressive discourse in a simple and accessible manner. In the words of Donna Harraway, "taking responsibility for the social relations of science and technology means refusing an anti-science metaphysics, a demonology of technology, and so means embracing the skillful task of reconstructing the boundaries of daily life … It is not just that science and technology are possible means of great human satisfaction, as well as a matrix of complex dominations…It means both building and destroying machines, identities, categories, relationships…" 

(Haraway, A Manifesto for Cyborgs, 1985, Socialist Review)