In the day and age of social media, hashtags, and an overabundance of both information and misinformation, people seem more aware of social issues than ever before. Support for certain movements seem to exist solely within the vacuum of the Internet–but in this modern age, is this an advantage or a setback? I’m setting out to write this article in order to possibly answer a question I have been contemplating for a while now: what does activism look like today? Who can call themselves an activist?
Thinking back to the numerous social movements of the 1960s, I wonder how the Internet may have helped the campaigns, but also how it may have hindered it. In the age of “hashtag activism”, or what some call “slacktivism” and “clicktivism”, it is questionable whether these sorts of Internet behaviors actually make a social or political difference–which is, after all, the point of activism. It is worthwhile to call into question the effectiveness of taking a social justice campaign online.
One of the most convincing reasons that the Internet has bolstered activism is that social media platforms allow for a dialogue to occur between people who typically would not meet, about subjects that are harder to bring up in the public sphere, or within the busy schedules of the average person’s work week. This is where, I think, the desire for hashtag movements was born. Being able to attach every tweet about an issue to a hashtag directly attaches the person tweeting to the discussion at hand. Hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and #NeverAgain both center around controversial issues in American politics: police brutality and gun violence respectively. The Internet has given us the ability to create a designated space for certain conversations, while also allowing these conversations infinite room to be discussed. In theory, everyone can join in, even with a simple like or retweet.
But does this account for activism? Is a person who likes or retweets a politically charged post considered to be partaking in activism? I would argue it isn’t. However, a person contributing to a conversation in order to help challenge racism and other oppressive structure contributing to the issue can be considered an activist action. But, even that is not the be all, end all of activism. In order for any activism to be effective, there must be an offline presence as well. The Black Lives Matter movement achieves this through numerous protests and public demonstrations, like Colin Kaepernick’s protest during NFL games, which attracted the attention of millions of Americans. Rachel Einwohner, a Purdue University sociology professor summarizes this well, “Traditionally, people of color in our society have felt that our political institutions do not represent them, for obvious reasons… When we have social media, people can have a voice”.
Another organization that has seemingly mastered the balance between the internet and public activism is the Never Again MSD committee and the organized event March for Our Lives in 2018. This movement, also accompanied by the hashtag #NeverAgain, sought to not only engage in an online dialogue about gun control laws in America but also used the internet to organize the student demonstration that reached all the way across the country in the wake of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Even after the march, their continued social media presence encourages young people to vote, call our representatives, and engage in these issues outside of our timelines. Each part of this cause interacts with one another to create effective activism in 2019.
So what can these organizations teach us about activism? Maybe for those who are more inclined to show support through sharing on social media (like me), it’s time to explore other ways that we can challenge injustices in our daily lives, or even aim to make a change in the social or political realm (calling representatives to make sure they work toward legislation that organizations like the ones above fight for is one method that is simple and effective). For those who enjoy showing up to the big events and marches, perhaps encouraging ways to open a dialogue about these issues can be launched through social media. Either way, I would like to think that people post about these issues on their social media because they genuinely care about the cause, and therefore would be happy to engage further. So many activists work hard every day to make their voices heard, and the least we could do is spend more than a few seconds engaging with their hard work.