The seeds of revolution and even far leftist ideology have been flowing in the wind in the last several years in the west. Activism seems to be trending, but not as it has manifested in the past. These days there seems to be less beating the streets in peaceful protests and boycotts, technology and social media seem to have become a new and easy way to make your voice heard thus creating the term “slacktivism”.
Slacktivism is defined as actions performed via the Internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement. Whereas activists were once seen as people who centered their whole lifestyle around a cause, these new slacktivism just seem to sign online petitions and post socially aware updates on their social media in a bit of a half or “Semi-conscious” manner. While such people are spreading awareness of eye opening situations, they aren’t doing more about it to affect change.
Although sometimes these lazy efforts manifest into social movements such as the occupy movement. Although mass protests and “occupations” of cities across America and several other countries occurred, the movement was highly unorganized and accomplished little more than awareness of corporate greed, which can be a major or minor accomplishment depending on your stance.
Another movement which started in the realms of slacktivism is the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter began to circulate on social media. Three years later the BLM movement is now a household name, working with presidential candidates and spread to other countries. The BLM movement has shown that social causes started on the internet can manifest into real, tangible factions with enough power to garner real changes.
While technology can change social movements for the better or the worse, some very effective form of activism can be accomplished without ever stepping foot on the pavement. In the realms of hacktivism, another new term for hacking or breaking into computer servers for socially motivated purposes much has been taking place. The hacker group Anonymous has been ushered into popular culture because of such incidents. Anonymous is known for taking down servers via the use of DDoS attacks (follow the link to learn more about DDoS attacks).
The DDoS attacks that gained them worldwide notoriety was against the Church of Scientology. The attacks were done in an effort to preserve freedom of speech and bring to light the financial exploitation of members of the church according to a call-to-action ‘YouTube’ video released by Anonymous in 2008, which led to thousands taking protests to the streets in the United States and the United Kingdom. Since the Anonymous has pulled off hundreds of socially motivated hacks such as DDoSing child pornography sites, assisting virtually with the Arab Spring, the 2009 Iranian elections, and recent hacks on over 1,000 KKK members and takedowns of Islamic State websites.
The world is changing and so is the face of activism. With technology advancing further than ever previously conceived we as individuals and society as a whole can easily become more lazy, disengaging, and desensitized or more active and aware. The choice is yours.
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