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《别再做无用的“键盘侠”》
Challenging “Slacktivism”: Activism on Social Media Is Not Enough
Upon checking Facebook this morning, I was blown away1) by my news feed that consisted almost entirely of the same message posted and re-posted by my Facebook friends. This was the viral status:
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has been using Facebook check-ins2) to find out who is at Standing Rock3) in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps4). So, Water Protectors5) are calling on EVERYONE to check in at Standing Rock, ND to overwhelm and confuse them. This is concrete action that can protect people putting their bodies and well-beings on the line6) that we can do without leaving our homes.
Will you join me in Standing Rock?
If you’re sharing your location at Standing Rock (which you should be doing):
1) make it public;
2) make the clarification post separate, and so that only your friends can see it;
3) don’t clarify on your check in, message friends who say “stay safe!” to let them know what’s up—the stay safe posts are more convincing/confusing for p*lice;
4) copy paste to share clarification messages (like this one) because making it public blows our cover7);
5) say “Randing Stock” in clarification posts so that when they filter out/search those terms, your post is visible to the right people.
In addition to posting this status, many of my Facebook friends followed what the viral message said to do, which was to “check-in” at Standing Rock with the intent “to overwhelm and confuse [police].” At first, I thought it was awesome to see so many people wanting to participate in the protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline and I even considered checking-in at Standing Rock myself. After a day’s worth of consideration, I decided not to.
How many people did a fact check on the situation at Standing Rock? Is the Morton County Sheriff’s Department actually using Facebook check-ins to identify protesters? Who ever said that thousands of people checking-in at Standing Rock would “confuse” police? Why would the protesters who are physically at Standing Rock check-in if they knew they would risk being targeted by police in the first place?
It remains unclear where this idea even originated and no sources validating this information are cited in the statuses at all. Is it not imperative to first verify if the information is true and not just a rumor?
In my opinion, viral activism8) on social media—like checking-in at Standing Rock, sharing trending hashtags, or changing one’s profile picture to have the color of a country’s flag, for example—is, for the most part, incredibly superficial. Sure, it is great for garnering attention about an issue (which is important), but it is ultimately just fads that suddenly boom in popularity but die out as quickly as they appear. People mindlessly join in before swiftly moving on to the next campaign in vogue and abandoning the previous one.
On the outside, it may look like true activism but in reality, this activism is paper-thin “slacktivism,” as I call it. Online “slacktivism” is often as shallow as the participants’ knowledge on the movements themselves.
It seems to me that people are so eager to do as their social media friends do and jump on the latest activist bandwagon9) before researching and familiarizing themselves with the cause and what it is that they are doing. I admit, it is tempting to hop on the bandwagon, but before I do anything I take a step back to think critically about whether what I am doing will actually achieve anything or whether it will only get “likes” that are ultimately meaningless.
Despite the enthusiasm and appearance of genuine concern running rampant on my news feed, I ask myself, where is the depth and the passion? How can something with little depth have an impact in the real, non-virtual world?
Participating in social activism on Facebook does not do much more than help people construct a “socially aware” image of themselves and give them the sense that they are actually making a difference. Sometimes people can make an impact by engaging in viral activism on social media, even if it is a small impact;
however, they most often do not. Remember the infamous #Kony201210) “movement” to capture the Ugandan cult and militia leader and stop forced recruitment of child soldiers? Or #bringbackourgirls11), the worldwide campaign that took social media by storm? It aimed to convince the Nigerian government to work harder to find the 276 girls abducted in Chibok by Boko Haram12).
Was the fact that millions of people posted the same hashtag going to bring back the girls? The ultimate measure of success is the outcome: The girls are still missing, more than two years later.
Social media activism is merely an acceptable starting point for someone to participate in a cause they truly believe in. There is much more that can be done that many people—already content with their contribution on social media—do not do. Posting a status or hashtag is the bare minimum.
I realize that people have busy lives and personal constraints and that one may not have the time or money to contribute to a cause. If this is you, do what you can; if that means sticking to activism on social media, make sure you fully understand the cause you are supporting, truly believe that your post can help, and are not just doing it because it is trending.
I encourage everyone who stands with the Standing Rock Sioux, who considers themselves allies of any marginalized community, or who wants to fight injustice to go out there and find more effective ways to participate in social and political change. March. Protest. Write letters to politicians.
Donate to organizations. Attend talks to educate yourself further so you can more effectively bring about change. Volunteer. Engage in dialogue with others. Do what you can to UTILIZE YOUR POTENTIAL because we are all capable of changing this world for the better. It is up to each one of us individually to take this potential and run with it past our own expectations.
今天早上查看Facebook时，我被自己收到的推送消息吓了一跳，因为里面几乎全是我的Facebook好友们对同一条消息的转发。这条被疯转的状态消息如下：
莫顿县警局使用Facebook上的签到功能查找位于立岩保护区的人们，从而将他们锁定为目标，试图扰乱祈祷营的抗议活动。因此，“水的保护者们”在此向所有人呼吁，请前往“北达科他州立岩保护区”的活动页面进行签到，以混淆警方视听。哪怕足不出户，你也能凭借这一实际行动保护那些将自己的人身安全和福祉置于危险中的人。
你会和我一起参与到立岩保护区的抗议活动中来吗？
如果你要分享你在“立岩保护区”活动页面的签到位置(你确实应该这样做)：
1)请将签到信息设为“所有人可见”；
2)另外再发一条澄清状态，将其设为“仅好友可见”；
3)在你的签到信息里什么也不要说，给那些留言说“注意安全！”的朋友们发私信，告诉他们具体情况——签到信息下面那些提醒你注意安全的留言对警*来说更有说服力/迷惑力；
4)通过复制、粘贴来分享澄清状态(就像这一条)，因为将澄清状态设为“所有人可见”可能会暴露我们的身份；
5)请在澄清状态中用“Randing Stock”这个名字，这样当警察在过滤/搜索这些字符时，你的状态就能被该看到的人看到。
除了转发这条状态以外，我的许多Facebook好友还按照这条被疯转的信息的指示，前往“立岩保护区”页面签到，以便“混淆[警方]视听”。起初，看到这么多人想要参加“达州输油管道”抗议活动，我觉得实在是件了不起的事情，我甚至还考虑自己也要去“立岩保护区”签到。但在仔细思考了一天以后，我决定不这么做。
有多少人对立岩保护区的实际情况进行过调查呢？莫顿县警局真的在使用Facebook的签到功能来甄别抗议者吗？到底是谁说的几千人去“立岩保护区”签到就能“迷惑”警方呢？如果那些身在立岩保护区的抗议者原先就知道签到会有被警察盯上的风险，那他们为什么还一定要去签到呢？没人清楚这条消息的来源，转发的状态消息中也没有引用任何能够验证消息真假的出处。当务之急难道不是要先核实这条消息是真实的而不是谣言才对吗？
在我看来，社交媒体上如病毒般疯狂传播的行动主义——比如去“立岩保护区”签到，分享热门标签，或是将自己的头像换成某一国家国旗的颜色——大多是非常肤浅的。当然，这对为某件事情赢取关注而言很有用(这确实很重要)，但就其根本来说，不过是突然迅速流行一阵，来也匆匆，去也匆匆罢了。
人们不假思索地加入进来，又立刻被下一个热点事件吸引，将前一个事件抛在脑后。从表面上看，这似乎是某种实实在在的行动主义，但实际上，这种行动主义徒有其表——我将其称为“懒人行动主义”。网上的“懒人行动主义”就像参与者们对这些活动的了解程度一样，是非常浅薄的。
在我看来，人们热衷于和他们社交网络上的朋友们一道，对最新一波的热点活动跟风转帖，却不去调查和研究这些活动背后的真实原因，也不去思考他们到底在做什么。我承认，扎堆儿跟风很有诱惑力，但是在我做任何事情之前，我会退后一步，以便批判性地思考一番，看看我所做的是真的能产生什么结果，还是只能得到那些就本质而言毫无意义的“赞”。
尽管我的消息推送里满是高涨的热情和看起来真诚关心的姿态，但我问自己，这背后的深度和激情在哪里？一个缺乏深度的行为又怎么会在一个真实、非虚拟的世界里产生影响呢？
在Facebook上对社会活动表现出积极热情，只能帮助人们为自己塑造一副“关心社会”的形象，使他们觉得自己好像为社会变革做了点事情，仅此而已。有些时候，人们通过参加社交媒体上那些疯狂传播的社会活动确实能带来一些影响，即便影响很小；然而，大部分情况下并非如此。还记得声称为了逮捕乌干达反政府武装头目和军事领袖以及阻止强制征召娃娃兵的臭名昭著的#Kony2012“行动”吗？
或者在社交媒体上红极一时的#bringbackourgirls全球活动？这个活动的目的是敦促尼日利亚政府以更大的力度将在奇博克镇被博科圣地绑架的276名女孩解救出来。数百万人发布带有同一热门标签的推文是否将这些女孩子营救回来了呢？检验成功与否的最终标准是它的结果：两年多过去了，这些女孩依然不见踪影。
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文章摘自：《新东方英语》杂志2017年4月号
