This is gonna be a rant, y’all, so buckle up your seat belts ’cause you’re in for a ride.
In short, a lot of horrible sh*t has been happening in the world in recent times. Increased violence by the Israeli settler-colonial state against Palestinians in May, the (ongoing) discovery of thousands of unmarked graves of Indigenous children in former residential schools in Canada since July, the Taliban’s coup d’état in Afghanistan in August, the announcement of the six-week abortion ban in Texas in September… The list does not end there, obviously, but those are just a few examples of the pressing issues and events taking place around the world right now.
In response to these issues, I’ve seen many people posting some variation of this statement on social media: “If you’re not posting about this issue online, that means you’ve chosen the side of the oppressor.” To clarify, there’s this idea among some that if you’re not using your social media platforms to raise awareness and educate on world issues then somehow you’re complicit with the villain in the situation, whether that be a government or other institution. That because you’re not posting to social media, you’re turning a blind eye to those who are suffering, making you an enabler to their suffering. That you don’t care about global issues, that you’re not contributing to efforts to help victims, that you’re not interested in informing or educating yourself, that you even agree with the points of view espoused by the oppressors.
I can’t help but disagree with this, and I’ll explain why.
To preface, none of this is to say that there’s something wrong with practising activism via social media–if you like sharing infographics in your stories and spreading awareness of issues that matter to you online, then all the more power to you! But just because someone is not raising awareness of world issues online doesn’t mean they’re not practising their activism elsewhere, and I think it’s high time we stop accusing people of not giving a sh*t when they’re silent on social media.
For starters, it often seems to me like people care more about proving their ‘wokeness’ than actually educating themselves or others when they reshare educational posts about social issues online. Canva-clad Instagram stories seem to serve more as a badge of wokeness than as educational tools, or even as some kind of pre-emptive protective shield to deter claims that you have, in fact, chosen the side of the oppressor. Now, again, I’m not saying this is always the case. If an educational post teaches me something, resonates with me, or expresses my point of view very well, then I’m always happy to share it to my Instagram story.
However, I’m also guilty of sharing posts in the wake of some breaking news event for the sole purpose of proving to others that I’m informed and ‘woke’ about it, as opposed to sharing it to educate myself or raise awareness, and I imagine I’m not the only person guilty of this kind of performative activism. But guess what? You’re allowed to not immediately express your opinion when some new social or political development arises in the world! You can take the time to learn and reflect and share your opinion later, or not at all! You’re also allowed to have an Instagram page featuring nothing but frivolous things like puppies and Starbucks drinks, and it wouldn’t mean you’re a sh*tty person!
Because guess what? Social media isn’t real, and we don’t know what people do when they’re offline (it’s a wildly novel concept, I know). The people we shame for not posting online could be doing so much more than scrolling through their feed and sharing not-totally-accurate and oversimplified breakdowns of complex political struggles. They could be religiously reading the news and books and donating their time and money to organizations providing aid to the people affected, and we wouldn’t know! (Obviously, they could also be busy not giving a sh*t like we are wont to assume, but again, there’s no way to know! Isn’t the Internet wild?!)
They could also have a myriad of legitimate reasons for not wanting to post. For example, maybe overconsuming news hurts their mental health (even if it goes without saying that it’s a privilege to be able to simply opt out of reading the news when there are people who have no choice but to experience it directly).
And when we actually think about it, how effective is social media as a tool for social change? And I’m not talking about when semi-famous people or influencers with enormous social media followings post about social issues, because that’s not the same; I’m talking about just regular people with average-sized followings mainly composed of people they know in real life. Chances are that if you’re the type of person that cares about social issues and posts about them online, so are your online friends–so are we just preaching to the choir or screaming into an echo chamber when we practice social activism online?
Chances are most people are “aware” of all the terrible sh*t happening in the world because of the 24-hour news cycle, but either share your point of view on issues/events or have a different one. And if you have online friends who disagree with your point of view on a social issue, how likely is it that you can change their mind just by sharing some infographics? It’s hard enough to change people’s minds by talking with them! And maybe I’m being cynical. Maybe online activism at least gets conversations started or plants seeds in people’s minds of alternative points of view, and maybe that’s enough. And maybe we do have a responsibility to use our social platforms for good, but we can do good offline as well–maybe more! Anyway, I think these are still valid questions to ask about the utility of social media in creating social change.
The last thing I want to talk about is how credible online infographics shared through social media really are. Just because someone made a cute-looking post with a nice template they found on Canva doesn’t make the information in it credible–anybody can make one. it is astonishingly simple! I see so many widely-shared infographics with no sources listed, factual inaccuracies, oversimplifications, grammar errors, and flat-out misinformation, but that doesn’t stop them from going viral.
First, I’m not saying that you have to be some stuffy academic to credibly engage in conversations of social advocacy. However, if you’re sharing facts that aren’t common knowledge (as opposed to opinions or personal experiences and thoughts), you better back that sh*t up with some credible sources. And without being classist or elitist, I think it’s fair to say that most issues are more complex than the average person has experience, knowledge, or education of. So, we miss the inaccuracies and half-truths these educational posts are riddled with, and these are important to acknowledge even when you unequivocally side with the oppressed in a situation.
Second, grammar mistakes can be related to issues of accessibility, and some people have learning disabilities which makes it difficult to avoid them (grammar is all made up anyway, but we’ll talk about that another time). But, if someone creates a multi-page visual essay about an issue with high political stakes and it has grammar mistakes, then that leads me to think that they did not have at least one other person review it before they posted it–not even Microsoft Word!–making me question how much thought and care they really put into that post.
Needless to say, social media activism is complicated. What’s more important, I think, is how we use our activism off of social media. How do you feel about being an online activist?