Meg Lewis College Comp and Research Response Essay January 31, 2017 Activists Two activists: one out in the world trying to fix their problem and the other hiding behind social media. In the article, “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” Malcom Gladwell does not think that twitter can change the face of activism. He also does not think that social media can bring people together to make a bigger impact on something that is being fought. The people who support a cause could in reality just be bandwagoners who are looking for a fight and there is not any emotion towards whatever cause they are fighting for or against. In his article, Gladwell effectively explains that protests through social media, such as Twitter, are less effective, have fewer people actively supporting the cause, and have fewer educated activists on the cause they are supporting. Gladwell’s first point says that social media sites, such as twitter and instagram, have people fighting with each other who do not know each other except for the information on social media. Gladwell says, “Facebook is a tool for efficiently managing your acquaintances, for keeping up with the people you would not otherwise be able to stay in touch with. That’s why you can have a thousand “friends” on Facebook, as you never could in real life” (319). I agree with this statement. Many social media users do not personally know most of their so called “friends” on social media, therefore, by asking them to join a certain cause they say yes. They feel as if they know this person and agree with how this person thinks and then they also see that everyone else is supporting this certain cause. While on social media, I personally accept people’s friend requests because I have heard of the person or if we have mutual friends. Many people do this same thing. Social media users are prone to joining a certain cause that will “change the world” or “end world hunger.” A problem with social media users is that they are used to saying yes to everything and not exactly know what they are saying yes to. Social media users think they are helping a cause by clicking on a link or sharing a post. When people see other people sharing a certain post other people think that they need to do the same thing. Gladwell believes that by clicking a link or sharing a certain post is just an excuse for people to be lazy instead of actually getting out and doing something for the world. He talks about people campaigning for bone marrow transplant and how it got a lot of publicity. Gladwell says, “But how did the campaign get so many people to sign up? By not asking too much of them. That’s the only way you can get someone you don’t really know to do something on your behalf. You can get thousands of people to sign up for a donor registry, because doing so is pretty easy” (320). I agree with this point as well. In my town there are always little trends that go around that don’t cause much effect from people by help someone. One trend was called the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge”. By doing this challenge it would supposedly help ALS research. Many people in my town did this because of Coach Kinen, a man who recently died from ALS, and by doing this has made people feel like they were helping Coach Kinen live a little longer. This ice bucket challenge didn’t require much of people’s effort, therefore, that’s why they did it. It made them feel like they were contributing to helping Coach Kinen. If they were asked to go across the world to help with ALS research the majority of people would reject this offer. Before there was social media, activists did their deeds by physically doing certain actions. Now people hide behind a computer screen and act like an activist but not actually do anything. There is not much publicity that shows what people are supporting because it is all on social media and not actually out in the world. When Gladwell writes this quote he agrees with it, “Donating bone marrow isn’t a trivial matter. But if it doesn’t involve financial or personal risk; it doesn’t mean spending a summer being chased by armed men in pickup trucks. It doesn’t require that you confront socially entrenched norms and practices. In fact, it’s the kind of commitment that will bring only social acknowledgement and praise” (320-321). Again, I agree with him. I believe that Gladwell is being serious when he talks about have a real activist always puts their life in danger. If one is a true activist I believe that they should go out into the world and fix what they believe is wrong. In “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted,” Malcom Gladwell makes good points about his view on activism and how social media, such as Twitter and Instagram, have changed how activists go about things. Gladwell believes that people should not hide behind social media and they should go out to support the cause that they believe in. I believe the same as Gladwell and also believe that his article clearly states his opinion on activist hiding behind social media. In Gladwell’s opinion activists who hid behind social media are weak, have lazy supporters, and uneducated followers.
Works Cited Gladwell, Malcom. "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted" They Say I Say With Readings. By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel Durst. 2E ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 198-210. Print