Armchair activism

The emergence of the internet has fundamentally altered how social justice movements spread knowledge. Social media has undoubtedly had a good influence on social justice groups, however, it’s difficult to overlook the danger it poses to development and constructive conversation. An example of virtue signalling, which is the practice of publicly expressing one’s thoughts in order to exhibit virtue and morals, is posting to social media without taking any further action. Real action is thwarted by virtue signalling.

The issue is straightforward: ardent supporters of a cause utilise social media to post and share and then label themselves activists without actually carrying out any effort to merit the moniker.

You may look at your own Instagram page to see an example of online activism. Many examples of  “slacktivism,” can be found by making a few clicks in the “tales’’ area. The unjust killing of George Floyd sparked a storm of protests and petitions. However, this storm concealed millions of reposts and shares of educational content, displays of solidarity, and lists of resources. One can adopt a position, associate with those who share their views, and see themselves as an advocate of change by making a single click on a smartphone screen. Although none of these responses to injustice are fundamentally bad, they nevertheless have a way of impending action.

Online activism is conceivable, but there are many limitations to this type of change-making. It’s almost too simple, and sometimes it’s not worth doing what requires the least amount of work. The majority of people updated their profile images to the BLM first, enthusiastically posted to their Instagram stories and accounts, edited their bio’s, etc., but stopped there.

It can also serve to humble us and perhaps let go of some of our dissatisfaction with the system to acknowledge that there are people out there who have lived their lives in accordance with values without feeling the need to shout it at the top of their lungs.

” Whenever there is injustice, it must be opposed, the question is whether the purpose of protest is change or just revenge.” -Gandhi