Is Online Activism, 'Slacktivism'? Tumblr & Social Media.

Over the years we've seen more and more online campaigns than we've seen street or physical. We've seen social justice warriors rise on the forefront of social medias like Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter. We've seen social media campaigns like The Ice Bucket Challenge, Anti-police brutality campaigns and the campaign that, by the way, successfully had the confederate flag removed from South Carolina's capitol. There are also several websites like GoFundMe and Change.org where smaller forms of activism have taken place.

Anyone who mocks those who partake in online activism for not protesting in the streets are forgetting, well...a lot of things:

• Everyone has different circumstances - We live in an age where more people are mentally ill, some to the point of not having the luxury of leaving the house, marching the streets and sometimes being arrested or becoming the subject of police brutality.
• You really are, asking too much - We also live in an age where 1 of 3 women have been sexually/violently assaulted, leaving them with fear of the streets, fear of crowds and men and sometimes agoraphobia. 
• Online activism is quick - Results are faster, the possibilities are limitless and everyone can participate. Meaning more people will. 
• Funds are collected a lot faster - With companies like PayPal helping donators and online buyers feel safe and secure with their refund policies and the fascinating speed of one click purchases, there's a considerable difference in donating online to donating to strangers on the street.
• Information and sources can be checked - We all know sometimes people can be shitty, spreading propaganda and scamming people all over the world. We live in the age of information, the internet is your oyster. With online campaigning you can choose who and what you want to support and fight for by getting the facts in the same place you're potentially protesting.

A survey study in 2010 concluded the following:

The survey was conducted in late 2010 by TNS Global among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 American adults, ages 18 and over, with a margin of error of +/- 2.2%.

So there you have it, activists who participate online are twice as likely to actually take action physically than those who don't. They're more than twice as likely to buy from those who support the cause, bring a bucket load more people to join the cause and are essentially more efficient.

A study done in 2013 suggested that online activism is usually non violent and extremely successful when geared toward governments in particular. You can download the full study here. 

Speaking from personal experience, I myself would most likely not have been a feminist or a vegan if it weren't for social media and the internet. On Facebook's on this day feature it allows you to see, basically the kind of human you were one, two, three or four years ago. I was the opposite of a feminist, I slut shamed, I fat shamed and I virgin shamed in a sense of using 'fat' and 'virgin' as a payout, and I was ignorant about meat and animal welfare. I was basically my own worst nightmare culturally appropriating bindis. 

People joke about Tumblr 'feminazis' and Tumblr activists and sometimes even use it to insult those who don't want to hurt other people or offend them for things they can't change. To me, that concept just doesn't make sense. If anything Tumblr breeds or recreates ideas on what is appropriate. Tumblr is like a parent for people coming into their own. And you know what Tumblr essentially is? People. People behind screens are actually teaching you about rape culture, cultural appropriation, ableism etc, depending on what content you chose to follow. 

I remember being on Facebook talking about how gross and outraging it was that people were posting pictures of dead cats they shot because they were killing our native species. People pointed out that I ate meat and it was essentially the same thing, that my thinking was distorted and my morals were placed on people but not on animals. And I was a feminist at that time or so I thought. I realised I wanted human woman to have the right to not be raped, to have rights over their bodily fluids and to keep their children, but didn't think about the exact same thing for non human women. I became vegan soon after.

Perhaps the success of online activism VS offline activism is down to the fact that the internet is basically endless information and people. Almost half of the world's population has access to the internet. We want everyone to have access to the internet but that's another story. Half of the world's population is a very large sum of people sharing data, connecting with people and getting involved in small or large forms of activism. Even if a small portion of those with access to the internet get involved in a fundraiser or challenge like the Ice Bucket Challenge, the results can be staggering, like we've seen in the past.

I used to use my 'job' as an online club promoter to advertise my charity fundraisers for things like The Cancer Council and Villalobos Rescue Centre for pitbulls. It allowed me to donate my pay to things I didn't have the funds for otherwise. Organisations wouldn't have received those funds if not for the internet.

I suggest that reprimanding every online activist for remaining exclusively online is an extremely ableist and problematic suggestion in it's self. If this article teaches you anything, I hope it's understanding that blanket statements like that include and therefor exclude people who can't physically meet your demands, as well as those who can't mentally meet those demands. Online activism opens up the space for some of the people offline activism excludes. 

The great thing about the internet and activism is that it allows for support for activists, whatever form of activism you're into. The emotional toll that activism takes out on a person with already existing mental illnesses is prodigious. We come together as a group and try to lift other's up when they're down. A few lovely chickpeas who have or haven't asked to have their identities unattested have offered quotes for this article to reflect personal experience on how the internet and social media has changed them as people and how they can relate to the importance of online activism. I leave their statements with you as a parting piece. 

It's so important, because not everyone has supportive people in their day-to-day lives. When I was sexually assaulted, I had no idea about feminsim and feminist communities; I had no idea that there was a group of people ready to support me no matter what I was going through, validating me every step of the way. That's something I could have never know without these online communities. And now I'm one of them. - Anonymous chickpea.

I don't think I'd even be vegan if it wasn't for social media. I always felt super bad about eating animals but was, I don't know, too scared and overwhelmed to make that leap. Following vegans on Tumblr exposed me to the truths and was my major turning point in becoming vegan. Same with feminism, really. Before I followed awesome feminists on social media I didn't understand feminism and was one of those 'I'm an equalist' people. Now I get it. I'm honestly a better person for being exposed to all these awesome people on social media. - Carley Bell

I've learned soooo much through social media... Intersectionality, cultural appropriation, internalised misogyny... The list goes on. What I think is so important about social media is that it is, by definition, extremely accessible to a lot of different demographics. I have seen debates on social media that have broadened my understanding of certain things and the people involved in those debates, I wouldn't have had the chance to come into contact with in real life. Social media has exposed me to many concepts I just would not have had the chance to come across otherwise. - Sarah Nickson