Friday, April 6, 2012

Slacktivists Can Change the World

I was thrilled to finally participate in #MSAchat for my first time this past Tuesday. #MSAchat is a specific hour on Twitter where people involved in Multicultural Student Affairs gather on Twitter to discuss a topic currently being faced by this particular functional area within Student Affairs. This past Tuesday we discussed campus reactions to the tragedy of Trayvon Martin which had made the news recently, and following this chat a conversation regarding "slacktivism" has continued, which prompted this post.

I remember as a college student being involved in many causes aimed at raising my peers' awareness to important issues in the world around us. I was an active member of our campus gay-straight alliance (HERO--Helping Educate Regarding Orientation), our Women's Studies Club, and our Young Democrats, as well as having honorary memberships in a number of other clubs, and frequently attended rallies, vigils, and other awareness-building events to educate my peers on what was happening outside the bubble of the campus community.

The term "slacktivism" has emerged as a way to describe the type of activism that has taken predominance in the era of social media. This neologism combines the words "slacker" and "activist" to describe the phenomena of "retweeting" or "liking" status updates and internet posts about important issues in our contemporary world. The term has taken significant precedence recently due to the flurry of activity around #Kony2012 and #TrayvonMartin on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking websites, demonstrating the first time how far social media's reach can go when it comes to "spreading the word" about something catching fire in people's minds. Sarah Kendzior provides a great analysis of just how subjective and problematic slacktivism can be when it comes to raising awareness to important issues.

The main issue I see with slacktivism is how unprepared we are to discuss these issues at a systemic level, in a manner which has the potential to lead to deep, sustainable change in social structures which would produce meaningful change. On the one hand, you have #TrayvonMartin. This is certainly not the first time a Black man has unjustly faced a tragic end as a consequence of a system which considers Black men suspect outside very specific contexts. And this is certainly a tragedy that would usually pass under the media's radar were it not for the tireless efforts of Trayvon's parents and antiracist activists leveraging the power of social media as a tool to raise awareness to this injustice.

On the other, you have #Kony2012. You have a cause which has not escaped critique ("Invisible Children"), critique which has been public long before this particular Twitter hashtag was created, but critique that was fairly unknown until the hashtag caught fire earlier this year. Millions of social media users viewed and reposted (retweeted) this video uncritically before realizing just how complex the situation and how problematic the video's message really were, highlighting some of the dangers to which slackstivism could easily give way.

Yet these examples do not mark slacktivism's emergence in American society. I brought up my earlier example of being involved in awareness-raising efforts on campus because these effort were very much like slacktivism--they were confined to our college campus bubble and they involved little effort on students' part in being present at a particular place and time to demonstrate our passion for a cause. You see, to me, the key to slacktivism is how visible the demonstration is, yet how little it contributes to deeper, structural changes in society.

Take, for example, Gap's (RED) campaign (really, any campaign which involves making purchases for a cause). You purchase merchandise branded with (red) and part of the proceeds go toward fighting HIV and AIDS in the world, generally Africa. In other words, you purchase an item which shows your passion for a cause, yet you never question the decision in terms of, "Would it have been more effective to donate the $10 I put towards this t-shirt to a local AIDS charity in the fight against AIDS?" Typically these type of national AIDS campaigns were directed towards fighting AIDS in Africa rather than AIDS domestically (because the recipient might be gay!) and very little of the purchase actually goes toward the charity (these companies gotta make a profit). The consumerism these decisions uphold might actually be maintaining structures which allow AIDS in both the US and Africa to persist because a) they uphold the capitalism which prevents health care reform which would benefit domestic AIDS patients, b) they ensure insufficient resources for AIDS patients both domestically and abroad (too much is eaten up by company profits), and c) they impede the actor (purchaser) from considering other ways in which they could more effectively help the cause. In other words, more resources are utilized in maintaining the IMAGE of support of the cause rather than actually SUPPORTING the cause itself.

The major issue is how unprepared we are to critically examine causes to ensure that our efforts make a real difference toward causing change in the world. To me, the role of MSA professionals is to foster the critical and ethical examination of one's actions in the world as they inhibit or facilitate deep, sustainable change in the world around us. Social media itself is not an evil, and in fact hold great power to deeply change the world around us. It is our responsibility to develop the critical eye it takes to harness this power most effectively, and then empower our peers and our students to do the same.

How do you think social media will change the world?

Bryce
Follow me on Twitter: @BryceEHughes

4 comments:

  1. This is a great post, Bryce! I appreciate your inclusion of the (red) campaign and how it demonstrates this distinction between IMAGE and SUPPORT (perhaps, depth?) of current trends in student activism. I think this is precisely the critique many raise against slacktivism and, in a lot of ways, against social media. Though a lot of social issues have the potential to just be a flash in the pan on social media sites, I think many of us hope that students and others will discover something they truly care about and, as you suggest, examine it more critically.

    I struggle with your conclusion that the role of MSA professionals is to foster the critical examination of one's actions and their connection to change. While I agree, I think some nuance is needed between "actions" and, what I feel is also at stake, "identity". Given the earlier distinction you made between image and support, I feel a lot of students misinterpret their actions on social media (i.e. retweeting, posting, liking) to then become part of their identity, though it may only be on a superficial level. As MSA professionals, we should encourage critical examination of actions, but also of identity, and not identity as you create it in media, but also in reality. In this way, it adds to your questions not only how will social media change the world, but how can social media be leveraged to develop an authentic identity and social consciousness?

    Sorry for the long response, this is what Twitter chats help me reign in! Thanks again for posting!

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    1. My conclusion about the role of MSA professionals I think is contextual--I definitely agree with you on your point about identity. To expand on my point about critically and ethically examining one's actions, I should have added "systemically;" I believe the challenge for MSA professionals is to help students see how small decisions by individuals are connected through larger social systems, and that an action like making a "conscious purchase" might be reinforcing other systems of oppression.

      But I absolutely agree with you that what I concluded was limited. MSA professionals have a very important commitment to helping students work through identity, including online identity.

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  2. Really enjoyed this post, Bryce- thanks! The notion of "slacktivism" and "digital citizenship" are topics that really resonate with me as well, especially as we look at the way that social media provides new forums and opportunities to communicate and organize ourselves. I think it is an area that we will see continued interest and scholarship in, and perhaps even more importantly, it's an area that provides lot's of collaborative contributions (communication/media studies, sociology, political science, leadership development, multicultural affairs, etc.) to develop.

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