Monday, July 15, 2013
Page 4
FACEBOOK FRENZY
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
@Zhareefer
@UDK Opinion quick
summary of my
summer. #EatPlaySleep
Internet intensifies thoughtless debates
George Zimmerman's acquittal stirred up a cesspool of hasty generalizations and personal attacks that is my Facebook feed. I'm a white millennial from suburban Kansas, so there's nothing substantial I can say about the case itself. What I can do is give all my equally white and suburban peers a friendly reminder to shut up.
Before I go any further, I have to admit that I betrayed your trust, readers. A few months ago I wrote about giving up arguing on Facebook and other social media. I promised you that I would take the high road. I failed.
I was baited into arguing about the millennial generation and in retrospect I can't believe I fell for it. The "other side" was someone burping up talking points just to grind my gears. It was a friend of a friend and I'd like to think that I stayed respectful. But having the buffer of a keyboard and the support of a few Google searches, I got ahead of myself.
And now I'm seeing dozens of flashpoint arguments explode across my computer screen like it's D-Day and I can't help but ask: what can any of you kids from Kansas who probably didn't spare five minutes to watch the trial have to say that hasn't already been said?
That's not to say I'm against healthy debates between citizens. Discussion is good; it reflects an informed and progressive society. What makes me doubt the rest of you is when racist terms get thrown around like snowballs and friends turn on friends because... well... there's not really a good reason for it, they just like to argue.
It's discouraging. When I got trapped into debating the millennial generation, I defended us. I said that we were just as smart, respectful, and rounded as the Boomers and our parents. But when I come home to see comment threads with five hundred responses and everyone is comparing each other to Hitler, I begin to wonder if maybe
the media is right about us
What's worse is that, just like my argument about generational relations, there's a good chance that the person you're attacking is just trying to get a rise out of you. There are entire sub-cultures on the Internet devoted to kicking up dust and just waiting for the inevitable pit fight with a bag of popcorn handy.
But maybe I'm just another idiot with a soapbox. Although mine's made out of paper and ink, I'm probably no different. Whether you like to hear it or not, you aren't as informed or insightful as you think you are. No one logs onto Facebook
or Reddit to get his or her mind's changed. They type in their favorite website to find a fight somewhere and get a punch in. Nothing is changed and the only thing that's been proven is that the combatants are ignorant.
Not ignorant of the topics but ignorant of one another. Julie Smith, the woman you just cussed out and asked to "kindly kill herself" on Facebook, is a person. She has a favorite color and a hilarious story about a beer in a blender. She might be wrong but she's just as stubborn as you are and can probably type faster.
So again, Facebook, pour some tea and just do a crossword. Run a mile and burn off some steam. Let the incoming hurricane of news analysts do the arguing for you and most of all: listen. Then, if you're in the mood to discuss and not fist-fight, get some talking points in.
Rest in peace, Trayvon.
Kenney is a sophomore from Leawood.
AWARENESS
Social media weakens true activism
Facebook activism is ineffective and you can tell that to Joseph Kony, I am, of course, speaking about the phenomenon of Facebook users supporting political causes via social media interactions. Prominent examples include the infamous Kony 2012 sensation and the iconic red equals sign for marriage equality. I should preface this article by stating that there is absolutely nothing wrong with supporting worthy causes. Rather, I am merely suggesting that the practice certainly entails some unforeseen deleterious side effects.
It's one thing to, say, support marriage equality by changing your profile picture for a day, but it's a bit more comical when thousands pledge to affix a "Kony 2012" picture to their profile until the malefactor is caught. Well-grounded causes such as marriage equality do deserve our
respect, but fringe movements like Kony 2012 are an embarrassment to the world and highlight our short attention spans. In some respects, history will regret movements like these, because they represent the paragon of American Slacktivism, especially considering that most of North America probably can't locate Uganda on a map. At its worst, Facebook activism glorifies cursory
research for trite causes promoting vacuous platitudes, and only serves to give people a false sense of activism.
Done right, Facebook activism can be an efficacious platform for well-established movements, done wrong, it lets people take a stand but only from a safe distance. With the odious drudgery of actual service washed away, activism becomes less valuable — and certainly less effective. People become fulfilled by simply pressing a like button, which usually prevents them from becoming more deeply involved in the movement.
The cheapening of activism has to stop. I do realize that people's hearts are in the right place, but entrusting the Internet hive mind to change the world with mere likes is just another example of hare-brained American thinking. Real change occurs when
you step outside the safety and security of your social media profile and into the real world.
Where should the masses start? Simple awareness. People should seek information on the issue they find "like" worthy. They need not bear the burden of being the next great activist, but merely an informed citizen, because there is an intrinsic value in knowledge for knowledge sake. The more information people garner about a particular issue, the more involved and interested they will be in its development. If they do not seek information, they'll face great scorn — scorn as harsh as the glow of the LED screens from which these Facebook users became "activists."
Ashley is a sophomore from Topeka. Follow him on Twitter @punchlnekween.
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