Activism and General Society

I thought this week’s focus on social media activism was possibly my favorite chapter studied thus far. In the assigned reading Millennials & Activism I thought that the author Georgia Logothetis brought up interesting points about this generations perspective to activism. The main one that stuck out to me was the argument that we do not have an injustice in our generation that unites a vast range of people.  His exact words were, “politics decades ago were intensely personal – from civil rights struggles to being drafted - and there is no greater incentive for action than policies which have a direct and palpable effect on the individual other words, politics decades ago were intensely personal – from civil rights struggles to being drafted”. I do not completely agree with this, but it is hard to argue with that point.  There are definitely controversial and monumental issues in today’s society such as Gay Rights, Climate Change, and Globalization. I believe these issues are already affecting many of our lives, yet our activism still is not on par with that of the 1960’s . 

What I believe is a strong contributing factor is the type of atmosphere social media tends to create. In today’s time it so easy to get caught up in the social media frenzy that people forget what I believe to be the most effective form of activism, which I believe is still active physical demonstration. In the “Millennials & Activism” the author points out a few isolated incidents in which active marching or demonstrating was not effective, and uses it to support his belief that these forms of activism are not as effective as they once were. I totally disagree with this premise, I believe that this burden lies on us. In the sixties there were mass marches and constant demonstrations throughout the country and even heavier and certain areas. This generation seems to believe that one march or demonstration deserves instant change, when that just is not the case. It is simply too easy for people to click “like” or retweet” on a post and feel like they have done there civic duty.