Significantly, the ideologies of Kony2012 were implemented in movies that sought to settle the issue of child soldiers and impunity among African leaders. Interestingly, the short video does not reveal any new information apart from what the world already knew about Kony’s recruitment of minors as child soldiers. It is this premise that Kony2012's supporters were accused of slacktivism because of their inability to achieve tangible results. One of the most discouraging aspects of Kony2012 was its ability to reduce the number of funds that were earmarked for Uganda and other East and Central countries. Due to Invisible Children’s overzealous business mindset, young people spend money on wristbands and other accessories, channeling money from …show more content…
Coming at a time when social media was penetrating the modern society, the response to this campaign was unbelievable, a fact and non-fiction story attributed to its strong emotional appeal. It is from this fact that the Kony2012 video received more than 100 million views after being posted on YouTube. Time magazine ranked the film as the most viral video of all time (Time, 2012), and one poll suggested that more than 50% of young American adults had heard about Kony2012 in the days following the release of the film (Pew Research Center, 2012). Moreover, the message by Invisible Children Inc. concerning the unfolding in Uganda was inclined towards the young people who dominate the social media demographics. In this regard, it is essential to note that the Kony2012 message was well structured and tailored for the young people because of their active nature and curiosity. The campaign should have focused on the senior population because of its ability to influence outcomes in present-day world. However, it targeted young people, who were convinced to participate in the campaign and asked to share the message and theme of the campaign with their family members to enable the campaign reach a wider audience using gullible individuals who failed to realize the intentions of the organizers. For this reason, organizers of the Kony2012 …show more content…
What motivates individuals is hard to define (Activism or slacktivism. N.d). Motivations are subjective: There’s also a lot of components that trigger a reaction such as sympathy, empathy, curiosity, and the emotions that the cause could potentially trigger and create a reaction. A study by finds that the peripheral players are extending the reach of social movements and social media could be used as a tool to pave the way for real action and change to take place by bringing the topic to the limelight and interest of others.(The Critical Periphery in the Growth of Social Protests. 2015) Therefore, one could not assert that individuals should entirely desist from slacktivism in the age of online activism. Although there are notable cases, such as Kony2012 that proved that activism using social media was unable to respond to issues affecting individuals in the modern world. Unlike slacktivism, activism is inclined towards accomplishing a common good in the society. For instance, when women in Saudi Arabia protested the decision by its government to deny them access to driving licenses, it only took activism through social media to attain this right. In the case of Arab Spring, the revolutionary demonstrations were achieved through social media. However, Kony2012 was a big failure in the world of activism due to networked individualism that reduced the impact of
In 1996 the war in Sierra Leone was becoming a horrific catastrophe. Children were recruited to be soldiers, families were murdered, death came easily, and staying alive was a privilege. Torture became the favorite pastime of the Revolutionary United Front rebel movement, which was against the citizens who supported Sierra Leone’s president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. I was in the grips of genocide and there was nothing I could do. Operation No Living Thing was put into full effect (Savage 33).
Malcolm Gladwell’s article "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not be Tweeted" raises a significant question about the prospective contribution of web-based social networking to the advent of progressive social movement and change. Gladwell bold declaration that "the revolution will not be tweeted" is reflective of his view that social media has no useful application in serious activism. Contrasting various elements of the “high-stakes” lunch-counter protests in Greensboro, North Carolina in the 1960’s with the “low-stakes” activism achieved through social media, Gladwell concludes that effective social movements powerful enough to impose change on longstanding societal forces require both “strong ties” among participants and the presence of a hierarchical organizations. In contrast, Gladwell characterizes the social networks as an interwoven web of "weak ties" that is inherently devoid of a hierarchy. Gladwell’s prerequisites for social movement are firmly based in strong body of sociological evidence, but his views regarding the nature of online social networks are laughably lacking in foresight and obstructed by a misleadingly selective body of evidence.
“Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” by Malcolm Gladwell is an article published in the Annals of Innovation, by The New Yorker magazine. Gladwell starts with an example of true activism. He opens the article with a depiction of how the Greensboro sit-ins contributed to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Then the author supplies two examples of protests that have taken place in recent years that some people have said were started and organized on Twitter. He then goes on to clarify why Twitter was not a factor in these events and how media and government can distort certain truths about social media’s role in protests. The author continues the article by explaining why communication and relationships were more efficient before the era of social media and then compares social networking from the past and now. He uses this strategy to illustrate social media’s effect on how we interact and our commitment towards one another. Gladwell goes on to explain the organization of activist groups of the past and its
“Sierra Leone Rebels Forcefully Recruit Child Soldiers.” HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH. 1 June 2000. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
...be seen as an entity that promotes vile results. However, it is imperative to understand that globalization is multilayered and difficult to fully understand. In the case of child soldiers, globalization has played a pertinent role in unifying international organizations in hopes of finding a solution to this “phenomenon”. On the other hand, although certain international organizations such as United Nations have had a prominent role in advocating against child soldiery, for the following reasons, its attempts are insufficient: it lacks the ability to enforce sanctions established within the international community and it does not do enough to recognize the political, social and economic inequalities that are prevalent in most of these fragile states. Therefore, child soldiery, cannot be eradicated until these issues are dealt with on a collective global scale.
Throughout history, social movements have continuously formed because of a person who had the courage to stand up against the injustice they witnessed in every day live. When I was a child, I remember feeling as if it takes a superhero-like person to start a social movement. However, I have found that through the use of social media today, any person with a passion for making a change can spark a social movement. Social movements are a powerful way to help people believe that their voice matters and they should stand up for what they believe in. Before the advancement of technology, it took a lot longer for social movements to become prominent in society’s media outlets because of the difficulties of not having enough time in one’s life to
Malcolm Gladwell’s article "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not be Tweeted" raises a significant question about the prospective contribution of web-based social networking to the advent of progressive social movement and change. Gladwell’s bold declaration that "the revolution will not be tweeted" is reflective of his view that social media has no useful application in serious activism. Contrasting various elements of the “high-stakes” lunch-counter protests in Greensboro, North Carolina in the 1960’s with the “low-stakes” activism achieved through social media, Gladwell concludes that effective social movements powerful enough to impose change on longstanding societal forces require both “strong ties” among participants and the presence of a hierarchical organizations. In contrast, Gladwell characterizes the social networks as an interwoven web of "weak ties" that is inherently devoid of a hierarchy. Gladwell’s prerequisites for social movement are firmly based in strong body of sociological evidence, but his views regarding the nature of online social networks are laughably lacking in foresight and obstructed by a misleadingly selective body of evidence.
If the founding fathers didn’t stand up for the things they believed in we would have never separated from Britain and established our own country. However, today it seems like retweeting a cause you believe in or watching the new makes people think they are politically active or active in a cause. For example, “These days, however, most Americans think that just sending out a tweet or a social media post counts as advocacy” (Schwartz 1). When in reality they never had to leave the comfort of there home to make this stand. But, studies do also show that the more active people on social media for a cause may actually be more likely to get involved with the cause even farther and take action. “ But while calling yourself an activist for sending out a supportive tweet seems a little lazy, there are indications in the study that social media posts do translate to more involved behavior”(Schwartz 1). Depending on perspectives mass media can either hurt or help people will to stand up for their
Kony 2012 was a film produced Invisible Children which went viral overnight. The video gained 31 million views in a single day and since has gathered almost over 99 million view on YouTube. The campaign was a 30-minute video made by filmmaker and Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell can be considered a political documentary by traditional standards. The political documentary intended to persuade bystander viewers to hold certain beliefs about Kony, a leader of the rebel militia group the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. Viewers were asked to act immediately to raise awareness through social media, local campaigns and political advocacy to capture the rebel leader who kidnapped children. While the film raised a significant amount of money, it has been accused of engaging in “slaktivism” in which one takes action, which has little effect beyond making one feel like they have contributed.
While many people throughout the world see social media as a trendy new application in the service of personal amusement, the political upheavals in the Arab world have shown how it can change the dynamics of modern day activism. The Arab Spring Uprising interlaced social unrest with a technological revolution. Blogs, news websites, twitter feeds, and political list servers became avenues for communication, information flow and solidarity. Being capable of sharing an immense amount of uncensored information through social media sites has contributed to the success of many Arab Spring activists. Social media played a role in facilitating the events of the Arab Spring, but the main issues are rooted in a broader set of economic, political, and social factors. This paper will examine how social media impacted the Arab Spring Uprising. Specifically, I will look at how social media introduced a novel resource that helped to created internet activist communities, changed the dynamics of social mobilization and revolutionized interactions between protesters and the rest of the world.
Today’s young adults live a life caught between two worlds: the physical realm of human interaction and the digital universe that sits just a mouse click away. This is an age in which entire relationships are formed over online digital platforms, and a single person’s opinion can be broadcasted worldwide in a matter of milliseconds. Lately, the freedom of expression that social media has given young adults has provoked interesting behavior among users of such social media platforms as Facebook and Twitter. The term “slacktivism” was coined as far back as 1995 by Dwight Ozard and Fred Clark as an expression of doing something in support of an issue or cause that requires minimal personal effort (Kain, 2012), and is now used to describe this new behavior; where everyday activists have taken their causes to the Web in search of exposure and support, and users have found a passive way to support the causes that they claim to believe in. Every day, hundreds of new slacktivist-oriented pages and videos sprout up across Facebook and Twitter, and slacktivist supporters rush to “like” the cause and pass it along to other friends in their network. This, however, is not the only form of slacktivism. It is also evidenced in the statuses of the numerous members of the Facebook and Twitter community. The role of the “status update” and the “tweet” has evolved from reporting a person’s physical activities, into a platform for launching whatever propaganda a user deems worthy of sharing with his or her social media community. It would seem that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are providing users with a false sense of ego, and that this – in turn – has contributed to the monumental rise of slacktivism and consequential degradat...
This summer if you were on social media you heard about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The concept was simple, just film yourself dumping a bucket of ice water over your head, challenge your friends to do the same, and donate ten dollars to the ALS Association. Opt out and donate one hundred dollars (Madison). Many Americans did not know what ALS was and by putting this challenge on social media has brought tons awareness to this devastating disease. Activism used to be taking action to bring social change, people in the 1960s used to gather in front of community centers and protest and or speak about their issue or cause. Now even though people still gather together it is much easier to use the internet. Hundreds of social media applications
For example, in Saleem Kassim views, “As a result of the many technological advancements and innovations that have revolutionized how individuals communicate, an abundance of information has become available to everyone.” Saleem Kassim’s point is that anyone and everybody can put out information that can be seen by everyone when you are an internet user. For example, the news can tell you that there’s nothing happening in a certain country; whereas, someone from that country can post on twitter and upload videos showing anyone that decides to see the truth of what is really happening in their country. Kassim also states, “Ultimately, public information supplied by social networking websites has played an important role during modern-day activism, specifically as it pertains to the Arab Spring.” In other words, Kassim believes that digital communication has brought people together to fight for something that is a good cause. To have people aware of the truth and to have someone do something about it. Indeed it is highly likely that we bring people together for a good cause but digital communication can also cause a downside through having no censorship on what you post. When more people are brought up of current events trending they decide to hope on board to see if there is anything they can do to help. Not to mention, Graff and Birkenstein view it the same way. Like I mentioned earlier, Graff and
Different from the prior movements and uprisings that were organised and directed by a chief leader, the insurrections in Arab Spring was structurally changed that started by a mass of the online connected young people. The Internet and social media first empowered the young people to stimulate the uprisings, whi...