The
rise of the Internet and communication devices based activism, slactivism,
clicktivism, the use, the abuse and the obtuse.
How
often you get invites through social media platforms, to sign up for a campaign, where all you have to do is just click and click and it's done. What do you know about that
campaign, the issues and the related information? Does it matter? Who
cares, right?
Welcome
to the age of Internet Activism... which has other names like
slactivism and clicktivism. But what makes it tick, or, click? How do
people relate to some of these causes and have them lift their heavy
fingers and press the screen to make an intended err... life-altering
commitment?
The often accepted explanation is that much of it has to do with
ideological self-identification, which, sadly in Malaysia's case, is
often related to one's race and/or religious background – often a perfect eco-system to
whip out the "victim card". Mind manipulation of the mass
is still as easy no different than the early days of tribal religious conversation,
that a cry of a "victim" immediately put the peer pressure
on the social media users to get into the action without even
wanting to know what actually had been transpiring, the history
behind it or does it even matter to him or her personally.
There
is a study
citing that it is usually the narcissist
who
use plenty of victim card. Popular culture – your religious texts
included – glorify the underdog and demonise the powerful ones.
It's cool to be an underdog, therefore to related to one, but usually, underdog stories comprise of
70% of the time suffering, 29% fighting back, and only that 1% where
you raise the gloved hand in the air to an Eye Of The Tiger
soundtrack reprise.
Therefore,
identifying oneself to underdogs it is easier now to have the voice heard in unison through the social media, by imposing themselves, with popping
veins of narcissism, and use victim cards to make the voices heard or
read, (“government is patronising us by eating maggie mee”... “I
may not pay taxes, but they can't take away my illegal parking
rights!); and it's easier to get support for those whines than, “Hey,
let's put our head together on this legislation before we bring it
to the parliament”.
But
what's the make-up behind the attitude towards these form of
activism? Perhaps science can shed a light. Perhaps it may have something to do with...
NPD
Make
no mistake...online activism is especially useful for those who are
unable to participate in acts of physical activism, notably, as
mentioned here,
“the disabled and mobility-impaired people who cannot attend
marches also find online activism tools a helpful way to promote
issues and protest inequalities.”
But
there is the selfish side of things that need to be pondered bout.
There seemed to be much concern amidst the discerning of us that most of us with
a cellular phone, internet connection and social media apps are
slowly succumbing to what is known in psychology and related
discipline circle as a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).
Some
of the symptoms (taken from the above link) include the following:
- sense
of entitlement
- denial
- delusions
of grandeur
- grandiosity
- Projection
- need
for control
- narcissistic
rage
- low
empathy
Most
of us can tick all the boxes, but let us flesh it out a little bit
more on...
NPD
and Activism
Some
of the most successful activism has its impact all over the world. For
example, one of the most important of recent years: “Black Lives
Matters”.
The
George Zimmerman case in the US, where he was charged for the murder of Trayvon Martin but acquitted, started the peat fire of Black Lives Matter (BLM) hashtag, went on to become a raging online forest fire so much
so that it was rewarded with millions of signatures, and even endorsement from celebrities
who need to have themselves to be in the public eye radar anyway. Zimmerman was then
charged with second-degree murder, instead. BLM collected
around US$90 million last year (there's also news about the co-founder of
the movement who bought a US$1.4 million house, but that's a tale for
a different day).
The
same activism was played a big part in the rise of the Occupy Wall Street
and Arab Spring movements that relied heavily on social media for the organisation of the rallies, and ballooning up to the size of imposing headlines.
Alas,
it is very noticeable that there is clearly the presence of emotional
blackmail involved: you are with us or, well, you better be with us, you oppressing, suppressing scumbag. Of course, the "us" is really "me", The whole shebang leads to what
is referred to as Performative Activism, which according to the wiki
is defined as “referring to activism done to increase one's social
capital rather than because of one's devotion to a cause. It is often
associated with surface-level activism, referred to as slacktivism.”
Social
capital here refers to the network of people we have in our circle,
the relationship, work, an interest group, etc. Note how activism now had evolved to selfishness, how many are in our circle, with us.... what cause?
Slactivism
and the left-outs
There
is a tendency to think that what is trending is the most important
stuff going on now, and it will be lost on those who don't give two
hoots about it. We can accept that users across the generations who spend up to 99%, if time permits, of
their waking hours staring into the screen (including yours truly)
will find it endearing to dedicate their seat-burning hours to
various causes.
Still, this
may not exactly be the case with older generations who are less likely to
make their opinions heard. And according to this article, a study
by the US Pew Research Center, noted that Americans aged between 18
and 49 are more likely than those aged 50 and over to have used
hashtags related to a political or social issue; 20 per cent compared
with 8 per cent, respectively.
But
not only does online activism tend to engage younger generations
more, but it's also naturally attracting a more educated crowd. And
those with the communication and technological skills to get their
point across would actually able to win the online arguments. All it takes is highlight the "loser's" spelling and grammatical errors and you win the argument.
The
older generation though, many without the savviness or patience,
tend to gloss over these issues... If wisdom comes with age, then
wisdom may also be taking a break during this supposed life-altering choices and decision-making process. One wonders why.
So,
are the older folks sidelined? Or does it matter after all, when the
voices of the younger generations are going to determine the
future... which will be questioned by the latter-day younger punks
using the tech of the future to do their own version of activism.
My
old fart-ism aside, the Millenials especially are indeed a lot more
discerning than what we can give them the credit for. According to
this piece,
millennials “tend to place less value on the acquisition of things,
including the traditional settling down purchases of cars and houses,
and more on the acquisition of experiences. When millennials do buy
things, they care more about where they came from and what the
companies that produce them are like,”
Ethics
is a concern, and activism is the best place for the young 'uns
to express their concern. But would that do?
Not
too
far a time ago, a study
found that “75% of the Millennial generation uses social media
platforms to discuss issues that matter to them. It also found that
58% of Americans think using a hashtag related to an issue is an effective form of support. The problem critics see is that online
support isn’t typically backed by actions that make a difference.”
But
as sceptical as I am, let's recall one hashtag campaign that was a huge success: remember the #ALSIceBucketChallenge? The ALS stands for Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis and the draw was sch that almost nobody knew what ALS exactly was, when they were busy funnelling money to see wet bodies... or, am I being negative? People genuinely cared for the
cause, didn't they? Hmm?
Well,
it seems half of those who were polled in the UK, for example, never
really donated, as reported by The
Independent. Yeah, they were in it for the err.. titillation and
that's about it, so much for hashtag activism. Let's not forget that
there are far more serious diseases, but the funding was directed only at ALS. Perhaps #stripforcancer can generate gazillions, some of which will be siphoned off anyway.
And this sort of hashtag activism also may lead to what the
psychologists call Moral Licensing: a form of bargaining to whitewash
current bad behaviour with past good ones. In other words, as
mentioned here,
"...when we are confident we have behaved well in the past, and
our actions demonstrate compassion and generosity, we are more likely
to explain away acts that are selfish, bigoted, or thoughtless." So, what if I killed a bunch of teens, I participated in the ice bucket challenge. Therefore does it really.....
Help or who cares anymore?
At most, all these activities aim to mainly just raise awareness. That alone does not
help. There is more to just collecting a handful of money and shoving
it into the safe of a medical facility... On the other hand, the activism of
similar nature is just as good in collecting hates and malicious
intent, just as fast.
And
it also clearly indicates the nature of excitability, where the attention span of an average user is getting shorter and shorter. In turn, hashtag
campaigns usually have a lifespan of a housefly. Take, for
instance the campaign to save 200 Nigerian girls kidnapped by the
Boko Haram group (#
BringBackOurGirls) in 2014, millions have been
contributed but after seven years, while some have escaped and were
released, more than 100 of them are still
missing.
Most of those who participated must have forgotten the whole fiasco
in the following year.
It doesn't help that the ones rescued became some sort of celebrities and their lives just got worst, they had to be protected, and in military or government control all the time.
While
these form of activism had in the past also been used for defamation and
condemnation, it can affect the leading activists themselves. Noted
Internet savant, Aaron Swartz, 26, who at a very young age helped to
shape the online stratosphere through his co-founding of RSS ( news
feed) and Reddit (social news aggregation)... later committed suicide.
It
is a well-known fact that at that time he was plagued by legal
problems arising from his aggressive activism. Slactivism does not
only has the capacity to hurt others, but also the initiators.
Stigmatization, the break-up of relationship over misunderstanding and
disagreement on the activism cause are some of the side effects.
Ultimately,
everything evolves. There's a half-remembered quote from a film
somewhere, where a character says, paraphrased, "governments
change, the bullshit remains the same". Whereas, platforms for
activism may move from the street to the palm of one's hand, and, in a near future, instructed from the mind
itself – wanting a chorus of emotional participation to lift a finger (or press) for something someone thought is important can be both selfless and
selfish.
As
usual, history will be the best judge. Then, again, history used to be
determined by victors... but that would be passe, history will also
be determined by armchair cultural revisionist... and they will mostly be stuck
at this rampant hashtag slactivism phase, and the sheer exhausting the number will perhaps have them themselves start their own hashtag
campaign #stophashtagactivism.
