Facebook Thread About Facebook Activism

June 23, 2010

It started with me statusing this:

IF ONLY PEOPLE COULD SUDDENLY CARE ABOUT THE OIL SPILL THE WAY THEY SUDDENLY CARE ABOUT SOCCER!!! GOOOOAAAALLLLLLL

…and then went on to this:

PERSON #1

The oil spill is less entertaining to watch. I doubt people *don’t* care about it, but soccer is a nice distraction from real life. We need those from time to time. How depressing would Facebook be if every post was “OMG BP OIL SPILL! BOYCOTZ!”?

Erik Roldan

i know what you mean PERSON #1 but actually, if FB was filled with oil spill boycott news, that would feel really encouraging for me.

PERSON #2

can we get shirtless soccer guys to clean some birds on live tv?

PERSON #3

you overestimate how much most Americans care about the world cup.

PERSON #2

we could call it the “World Fuck Up” and have these guys kick giant hairballs into the gulf! (shirtless)

PERSON #1

It would be kind of irritating to me. Facebook activism is frustrating at best. Doing something in the real world is what would be encouraging for me.

PERSON # 4

I agree with PERSON #1, if all I saw were groups to boycott or bitch I would tune it out. What would you like to see happen in terms of activism or solutions?

Erik Roldan

well if the two of you agree, you can go talk about soccer on someone else’s fb wall. thx.

PERSON #5

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/03/03/80-the-idea-of-soccer/

PERSON #1

Erik, I’m just not sure why Facebook should be purely a venting ground for political and social causes. Assuming people doin’t give a crap about what’s going on, because they’re talking about soccer, or baseball, or whatever the cool band is at the moment doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t care. Maybe they’re using better avenues to prove they care…. like donating time and/or money to the clean up effort? At least that’s what I’m doing.

Erik Roldan

i think you can correlate someone’s general interests and activities with what they are posting on fb. i’m all for positive energy in the cyber realm but if there is a high volume of updates on soccer, and hardly any when the government realizes it can’t stop the oil from gushing, it worries me. that’s my interest and activity, and i’ll try to remind people to redirect their energy to something worthwhile if i can.

PERSON #1

I think I disagree with that. Personally, I think I’m a very socially conscious person, as are most of my friends. I just don’t think waving the “look what I’m doing” flag on the internet is worth it. I know that my politics tend to be way to the left of a lot of people, so I keep it personal. No need to advertise it on Facebook, because ultimately, the masses don’t care and just scroll past it. It just seems like real life action is way better than Facebook activism.

Erik Roldan

well you can disagree all you want PERSON #1, but outness is the bedrock of activisim and if you don’t tell anyone about your efforts, no one can know to join you. that concludes this facebook faceoff about how to best be out about your activism. i reserve the right to have the last word, goodbye.

PERSON #2

I had similar feelings regarding the earthquake in Haiti — how so many rallied behind online fundraising efforts to text and donate money for the cause. I wouldn’t necessarily say that spending capital to fix systemic problems is the best route either. I am, however, so happy that feminists taught me there are many routes to change and progress … See Moreand none are more ‘right’ or ‘better’. Let’s donate what money or time we can, and post on facebook, and clean birds, and stop buying gas at BP, and teach each other about histories and experiences, and rally in the streets, and be out and support each other.

==================================

It then finally concludes with me catching a completely different status from my friend Ian: Thinks american girl should have an oil spill Kelly doll and give portions to save the wildlife/ and have it come with a 6 oz. Oil packet and seagull.

Posted in feminism, internet, ism, politics | Tagged activism, distractions, oil spill, outness, soccer |

One comment

This was hilarious, but I totally agree with your point and not because I know you. I can’t tell you how disgusted I was about the LeBron crap. It appeared that that was more important than the World Cup or BP. It just saddened me to see that the priorities of the world were completely off and we couldn’t find the verdict of the Oscar Grant case important let alone the infinite gushing of the oil. Real Talk. I’m all about escape, but that shit was just ridiculous. If we keep waiting for the next distraction..what ever will become of us?
by cuttingkeyboard July 21, 2010 at 5:18 pm

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