Age of the activist, the speed of our times

In his April 8 column, “On internet slacktivism,” Benjamin Dinovelli criticized Internet activism as “fleeting” and more likely to be ineffective than change-making. He expresses his skepticism toward the online movement of reposting news publications, liking political statuses and donating online, which he considers the “lowest denominator[s] of effort.” He doubts their abilities to have visible, permanent differences in the political and social movements.

At the Summit conference at Northwestern University for GlobeMed, an organization that creates a network of college campuses across America in a social justice and global health equity movement, Amirah Sequiera, an alumna of Columbia University, discussed the effectiveness of the tools of our generation in advocacy and activism. During her speech, students from colleges across the country seemed troubled with our generation’s approach toward anger and political activism — that we don’t seem to feel enough passion about the issues that affect us. They worried that we might not have it in us to begin such a large-scale collaboration against an injustice or protest in a way that would demand communities across the country to take notice of our causes. It seemed that this absence of political demonstrations and public outrage reflected a generational tendency of being apathetic toward global affairs.

I would say that for Princeton, there seems to be an even greater characterization of apathy on campus, especially when we’re being compared to politically active colleges such as UC Berkeley, Hampshire College and Columbia University. However, as Princeton students, we face barriers that prevent us from participating in the active political atmosphere that defines many other campuses. The truth is, we’re not immersed within a bustling city or surrounded by political activity and legislative reform. Just because we live relatively close to New York City, Philadelphia and Boston, we don’t have the luxury of taking hour-long train rides or 250-mile plane flights to engage in political activism a few times every month. Also for those of us who don’t own a television set, watching entire news broadcasts is just not as much of a convenient option for staying updated about political and social issues as online alternatives such as Internet exploration, Facebook posting or Tweeting.

Shruthi Deivasigamani, in her April 4 column, “On internet activism,” applauds the “virtues of Internet activism,” saying that “in a generation in which political apathy reigns supreme in adolescents and young adults, simply knowing what’s going on at Capitol Hill on any given day can be a huge step.” And this is true. Just because we don’t have the same ways of staying engaged with events around the world as other generations, it doesn’t mean we don’t care about what’s happening in the world. We still maintain the interests on political news, cultural studies and youth activism with which we entered college. Our outlet for getting and sending out information is just different than from that of our predecessors, but appropriate for our circumstances.

In his column, Benjamin Dinovelli laments that “when our only form of activism is clicking a link, we cannot expect our change to last, especially when our target group is so small.” But what if by clicking a link, posting a status, or updating our profile picture, our ideas can get out to someone who can make a change — to someone who feels a personal and deep connection to this idea? This means that we’ve already done them two favors: informing them that there is a group out there (a concept upon which they can build upon with their own form of activism) and that we support them. And to have support in any movement is significant, regardless of whether it involves the signing of a petition or the liking of a status.

While past generations used marches and demonstrations, these forms of political activism require a strong commitment to a cause and a deep understanding of the issues at hand, as well as time, resources and massive support — some of which might not be realistic for our situations. Through online activism, we use a resource that accommodates to our fast-paced, busy schedules. We show that our “voicing of thoughts” can be done as fast as the events we try to address. By being active online, we bring out people from a multitude of disciplines, and get them to work together. The inevitable outcome is innovation because it is at the intersection of all these different areas that change can occur.

We’re not like our predecessors. We don’t use sit-ins, widely attended demonstrations or even violent rioting. Instead, we enact online wildfires within minutes and the implications of this are astounding. It is our generation’s way of showing that technology can change the future if we fit it to our means and that our online platforms can be powerful.

Isabella Gomes is a freshman from Irvine, Calif. She can be reached at igomes@princeton.edu.