Posts Tagged ‘oil spill’

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Facebook Thread About Facebook Activism

June 23, 2010

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It started with me statusing this:

Erik Roldan

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

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

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

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

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.

Posted in feminism, internet, ism, politics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment »

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Christopher Hayes Totally Once Gave Me The “Is This Guy An Idiot?” Look

June 14, 2010

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I’ll admit to being in a post-college, well into the night stupor while we were talking, but still. Not overlooking the fact that he was and totally still is a fucking sweetheart, I couldn’t help but notice he felt like his deep thoughts weren’t sinking in. We were at a mutual friend’s house watching the Daily Show and if I had known then what I know now, I would have tried a little harder to let him see I wasn’t a total idiot. These days, Christopher Hayes is a regular political pundit on various news programs, subs for Rachel Maddow when she needs it (she even nick named him Lambchops on Twitter!) and writes for various publications. I still don’t know how he fits all the info into his brain, but at least now I can aborb his wisdom without feeling like I need to respond with equal insight.

I’ve been SUPER depressed over the oil spill. I have NO idea how to help given my distance from the situation and my lack of personal funds to donate. I do wish, at the very least, to stay on top of information, and am doubly determined after actually having a real life conversation with someone the other week wherein I asked her about the poor fucking pelicans and she said “Oh yeah, I heard something bad happened down south–what was it?” and she was NOT kidding.

Christopher Hayes wrote this piece for The Nation, call to action for all of us to reflect on the injustice that is going to inevitably result when BP’s stock rises again and the public consciousness moves on to newer, bigger (rounder, firmer) issues.

From his article:

A punitive society is not the best kind of society: there’s a real virtue in forgiveness, in second chances. But for years we’ve been applying Rand Paul’s “accidents happen” principle to those at the top while heaping blame, scorn and draconian punishment on those at the bottom. Punitive damages are capped for corporations, while punitive policies proliferate for citizens. This tears the social contract apart, and the only way to repair it is to apply the same principles of accountability up and down the social hierarchy. We should start with BP.

Posted in news | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

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