Are We Apathetic, or Just Pathetic?

( A ) P A T H E T I C

During our class discussion this week in my section, the topic of inaction among our generation arose. Professor Vinsel very modestly admitted that his generation is no better at making their voices heard in the public sphere than ours is, and it reminded me of Professor Wharton’s chastising words about the same subject. He was disappointed with young people’s poor track record when it came to public protests, and since this was during a course on the history of the 60’s, no one in the class had any valid reply to give him.

I’ve thought about the subject more since then, and I think the real reason that my generation seems politically apathetic is because we were trained to believe that “armchair protesting” is actually a valid method of expressing political opinions. Take this assignment, for example – we’re supposed to take something from the news or class readings that seemed important to us, and write about it. Now, this may sound like an angry student complaining about having to do homework for his class, but it isn’t. Rather, this is an introspective look at how my generation voices their concern, and the impact they perceive it has on the world around them.

We grew up in the Internet and social media age. Before Facebook, we had MySpace – and before that, there were specialized forums (message boards) that gathered total strangers together to chitchat about incredibly specific things. When my brother was much younger, he joined one of these message boards just to discuss the Legend of Zelda series with other fans of the games. So without realizing it, we grew up in a world where the opinions of others were constantly molding our beliefs. And I think that because of this, we hold the naïve opinion that by posting our thoughts in a public space where others can read it, we’re actually making a difference.

In my estimation, the only digital activism you can partake in that will actually have an impact on the world is 1) sending an email to your Congressman (maybe) and 2) using the Internet to schedule an in-person gathering to protest something as a group. Everything else, such as signing petitions, ranting on Facebook, posting on blogs, and commenting on social media is certainly armchair activism.

There are some groups out there that try to make a difference by “hacking” into websites to cause trouble. Of course, these “hacking” attempts are really just childish annoyances that tend to bring more trouble down on the perpetrators than the companies or groups they target. Occasionally, some politician will have his or her email account hacked and their personal messages will be revealed to the Internet. And every year, some anonymous group threatens to do something terrible in cyberspace if America doesn’t obey their demands. Don’t be fooled by these groups – they are not composed of talented programmers, nor are those involved different in any way than the armchair activists of Facebook, Tumblr, and HSS 371. They’re just looking for ways to make trouble without leaving the comfort of their bedrooms or without having to change out of their pajamas.

The most crucial part of my little tirade here is that I’m not pretending to be any different from the rest of my generation. I don’t want to leave the comforts of home if I don’t have to either, and I share in your hypocrisy. It’s true that I’m not an avid poster - some of my friends basically have columns on Facebook, since they make so many politically charged posts. But even if I’m not vocal on Facebook, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t glued to it. It’s my five-second break when I need it, and my endless stream of garbage when I feel like accomplishing nothing. The big difference between myself and others is that I don’t even care enough about these issues to make a post on Facebook. If posting on social media is equivalent to armchair activism, then that means I’m too lazy to even get out of bed and sit in the armchair.

But this perceived laziness may be the result of something entirely different, which will serve as my eternal excuse. The reason for my digital inaction is that I know it won’t make a real difference in the world. If a “real difference” is defined as a human being doing something in person to make a change, then I know digital communications won’t do anything to nudge people toward activism. This is because digital activism is a self-defeating loop. The people you follow on social media say something that captivates you, and instead of being motivated to do anything, you get sucked even more into the eternal news stream of social media. This keeps you tethered to your device, ever believing that protests and changes are things “done by other people.”

-Frank DiCola