On March 24, I attended the March For Our Lives rally in Tallahassee, FL, a student-led protest demonstration in support of tighter gun control. After the march, I went home and posted a photo of myself on Instagram and Facebook with a long comment on why I believed stricter gun laws were important. I was met with huge support ranging from heart reactions to comments with the handclap emoji and a “You go girl!” I didn’t attend the march because I wanted to be praised. I went because standing up against a cycle of continuous gun violence that’s rampaging through America is important to me, though it would be a lie to say I didn’t enjoy the praise and attention I received. I did, after all, place myself at the front of the rally.
Courtesy: Nick Byrd
Despite how vocal I am about how my political and social beliefs when speaking to people in real life, my social media platforms tend to be more conservative. I opt for light-hearted memes and cat photos instead of heated political posts. I don’t often, if ever, engage in political debates online, and my March For Our Lives post was the first time I made a post so directly about politics that involved myself. My apprehension for being too political online is largely due to the idea of performance activism. If you don’t know what performance activism is, it’s activism not for the sake of those marginalized but for yourself and usually for appraisal. It’s done not necessarily because an individual believes in bringing about change, but more for the gratification of being seen as a good person or as someone who is progressive and involved. In other words, it’s all talk and no action, or at least that’s what the argument against it states. It’s done largely online and is marked by the use of hashtags.
When I attended March For Our Lives and posted my photo I didn’t use the “Never Again” hashtag that’s attached to the movement. As ridiculous as it seems I didn’t want people to think I was only trying to gain likes and get new followers. I didn’t want to come off as disingenuous.
Performance activism is difficult to place a finger on and point out because it’s hard to say just what is and what isn’t a performance. Many people will share political posts and memes on their social platforms and won’t ever engage in conversations about the posts they share in real life. Just as many people will never attend a town meeting or a protest demonstration but they’ll sign an online petition. It’s unfair to say that online activism doesn’t do anything or that all of it is just for praise. At the very minimum, online activism shows people what is happening to the world around them. At it’s most influential, online activism can create dialogue and reach people that would not have stopped otherwise to consider another person’s perspective on a certain issue.
Courtesy: Foreign Policy
I think in the end activism is based on the individual and what he or she deems is doing enough. For me personally, I don’t feel like it’s enough to share a post on Facebook or post a photo with a hashtag. My activism requires me to go out and participate in rallies and group meetings and have a dialogue outside of the internet. I especially believe it’s important to have hard conversations about social matters to the people closest to me.
For others, this might not be the case. It might be that you simply do not feel comfortable attending a rally or don’t want to go to a town hall meeting. Maybe activism for someone else is simply letting other people know that something is broken that needs to be fixed. Who am I to say what a performance is and is not, what a genuine belief is rather than a desire for compliments and attention?
As the world becomes increasingly more digitalized, the way we navigate through social issues and the way we hold conversations will change. It already has when compared to the past. Still, this is something to think about: is online activism enough? Is all online activism a performance? And if someone’s activism is just a performance and it’s just to be seen as a good person, does it even matter if the performance helps change someone’s beliefs anyway?