Social media as trivialisation

[trixtah]

There is a meme going around on Facebook where people are prompted to change their default icon to a childhood cartoon character if they "care about violence against children/child abuse".

I'm all for making issues visible. Despite the naysayers like Gladwell, I do truly believe that social media allows word to get out there that might not necessarily have done. Sure, it's about the "cause du jour", what's trendy at the moment, what people notice. But that's no worse than what the newspapers pick and choose to publicise. And frankly, we do tend to care about what's nearer to us, community-wise (whether these are geographic or social communities) - it's a more developed kind of altruism that makes us consider those remote to us.

Having said all that, this FB meme irritates me immensely. The reason I feel it trivialises the issue is that NOT ONE of the solicitations I've seen provides any real information on child abuse - whether about the issue itself, or ways and means of addressing it. One of the things I enjoy about more-developed online communities, such as DW and even Reddit and so on, is that people use links. They cite things, they provide references, they suggest where to go next to help create meaningful change.

Changing a frigging icon does not. FB is powerful because it connects up people who would not have been well-connected before. People can publish information that they would not have broadcast previously. So I am just WAITING for more sophistication to develop around how to use this powerful resource.

In the meantime, if we do see these contextless posts, and it is an issue you care about, I suggest putting real information out there. Obviously, I couldn't feel more strongly about fucking child abuse - which is why my previous mild irritation about previous memes I have seen going around, complete with stupid semi-literate glurge and no pointers to constructive information, has finally burst its banks. If people want to change icons and post pictures, fine, whatever, if there is something REAL attached to it. Without context, it is trivial - a 30-second feel-good factor isn't enough..

And in the meantime, some secular charities are listed below that address child abuse. If you feel sufficiently well-financed and motivated, I'm sure they'll appreciate funds. And hey, FB has achieved something - it's prompted me to put this information out there (and bump up one of my own contributions).

http://www.familyhelptrust.org.nz/ - NZ
http://www.childhoodhero.com.au/home/ - Australia
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/ - UK
http://www.childrensdefense.org/ - US
http://www.ccfaa.com/ - Canada

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

This meme has annoyed me even more than the breast cancer ones.

My friend Jesse, who alerted me to it, just posted this.

[trixtah]

LOL.

And yes, for some reason this has irritated me more than the breast cancer thing too, although the principle is the same. Perhaps because I think breast cancer charities are marketed up the wazoo, and the media saturation and nature of the promotion in itself is incredibly irksome.

[ironed_orchid]

That sounds a lot like my reaction.

[vostoklake]

In Transactional Analysis, saying something like "if you really cared about X, you'd do Y" is technically described as a racket. The more common phrase is "emotional blackmail". I do not take kindly to this.

[trixtah]

Yes, the element of peer pressure and emotional manipulation doesn't work much for me. There is a line between putting the word out there and saying "CONFORM or else you're a BAD PERSON'.

[slavayboy]

Well said Trix, I wondered about it, put up a pic then took it down, fortunately saved by a cute otter!
All the well meaning people carrying around slogans on their t-shirts, bumper stickers and the like are pretty fucking useless really. It DOES make one feel good though...right?
To add to your list also making a difference to children and helping families sort shit out are
http://www.barnardos.org.au/barnardos/html/
and doing research in this area....
http://www.aifs.gov.au/

Billy

[trixtah]

Yeah, although I suppose if the t-shirts and bumper stickers are actually distributed by the charity, then meh, at least some money is going back to them. I hope. But just GIVING them money works - although I suppose the publicity helps too.

But changing those icons, with no links to donations, no information - it's just USELESS.

And thanks for those additional links - I have no idea why Barnardos fell out of my brain. :-|

[slavayboy]

True, if they're coming from a good place, indeed...but I guess tokenistic shit pisses me off too really...
The work of Barnardos is in my everyday life, so it was in the front of my mind :)Students always love doing their placements there.

[maize]

One of the things that I've found immensely irritating is the whole "secret meme", supposedly to raise awareness. (If you haven't seen them: There have been two of these that I've seen, both purportedly about breast cancer. How they're supposed to work is that you get a message from a friend letting you in on the meme and explaining it, and then you do something like set your status to the colour of bra you're wearing. So they primarily manifest as a bunch of people suddenly posting, "purple" as their status update and so on. You're supposed to refuse to explain or comment at all publicly, and then presumably pick a super cool friend to tell about it so they're in on the secret.)

Not only do they seem horribly cliquish, but how much awareness can you raise about a subject if you refuse to talk about why you're doing whatever you're doing?

(I do also feel sometimes that "raise awareness" should also be a bit more directed. Are there ANY people on Facebook who aren't aware that breast cancer exists? If the meme doesn't go any further, say by providing statistics that might surprise some, or providing information about a drive going on, or whatever, then what's the real upshot?)

[firecat]

That's exactly the problem I have with the cartoon character meme (and the bra color meme). I don't mind changing my facebook picture to a clear political message—I know it isn't going to do much good, but maybe it will reinforce awareness in a few people. But secret stuff that has only a tenuous connection to the message? Pointless.