Wexistence

On the front page today:

(Click to read full article)

See, I’m a big fan of Facebook/Twitter/the internet in general! Who says I don’t appreciate the power of new media?

“Don’t want to fight for a feeling… We need a better kinder dreaming… Don’t need another fool, a faker… Be a mover and a shaker.” – Matthew Herbert, The Movers And The Shakers

Facebook responses to my previous post (sans the Ako Mismo drama because that just went on way too long)

CyberPatriot1:

Enough said about SLACKTIVISM…just do what needs to be done…at the right time, CyberPatriots will just rise up to situation when they are most needed…as far as i know, meron pupuntahan ang Filipino CyberPatriots Society!

CyberPatriot2:

@CyberPatriot1.. I am with you.. when the time is ripe… as I can see more hardships for the future generation now… we have to do something even if it will cost our lives!

Me:

“Often enough, if you just lived for country, you need not die for it.” (Conrado de Quiros, True Measure)

Ryan:

I have no doubt that many of us would be willing to put our lives on the line for our country.

However, the time for that is not now. I feel sometimes like the democratic action that took place during the original EDSA has created a nation of “war veterans” that no longer have a war to fight. Like old soldiers, old rallyists still insist on waging a war that no longer exists. Do we live in a corrupt country? Yes. Are we on the verge of collapse due to a violent dictatorship? Hardly.

We exist in a limbo where I honestly believe that the better action to take is to put down your figurative swords and find areas or causes that you want to support with concrete measures. WorldVision, Habitat for Humanity, Gawad Kalinga, Greenpeace, WWF, Haribon, take your pick. There are many ways for you to contribute beyond the pressing of a button to join what is in essence a virtual rally.

Me:

Another example: what students are doing for Project Citizen

CyberPatriot3:

Participating through advocacy groups now normally coursed through various (Facebook is the most popular) social networking sites helps in making people more aware about the issues that matter. You can’t do anything or for that matter fight for anything at all without first having proper and sufficient knowledge about it. I believe actual physical participation say, in rallies or any practical activity for that matter and “slacktivism” (as it is popularly referred to nowadays) are mutually reinforcing. “Slacktivism” (without seeing it as a pejorative term) in fact augments efforts to mobilize people toward a certain direction or goal, whatever it may be. Social networking sites, doubtless, further animates, intensifies, and certainly expands public discourse that leads to the next level of engagement on the part of willing participants. That in itself is a very positive contribution.

CyberPatriot4:

People have commitments not only to this country but to their families as well. People will focus first on their day to day sustenance before they can focus on anything else… If a person can only air their protests on line, then thank God the forum is available for them.

Me:

I don’t have anything against Facebook campaigns or similar activities. I do recognize their value. MGG is on Facebook and Twitter for a reason. And I love public discourse. As I mentioned in my post, “Awareness and information are definitely key to any kind of social transformation…”

My simple point is this: Civic participation shouldn’t end with clicking a button or buying into slick marketing campaigns. It’s a start and I welcome it, but people need to do more.

It’s actually not that hard to do something that has direct social impact. For example, there are people who supposedly care about HIV/AIDS, but the most significant thing they’ve done is attend a benefit concert or join a Facebook cause. But there are concrete things people can do to help prevent the spread of the disease or help make the lives of HIV/AIDS victims a little better. I know people who organize seminars in barangays to provide information on safe practices etc. I know someone who organizes fun activities for HIV/AIDS victims to help make their lives a littler happier. I think it’s small things like that, pooled together, that are going to produce real change.

Ryan:

@CyberPatriot1 I think you need to step back and take a look at what people who use the word slacktivism as a pejorative are frustrated about. They are frustrated because slacktivists’ actions end after the press of a button. All guilt has been assuaged. They have done their part for the greater good, and announce it to the world via Twitter, Facebook, and friendster. “look at me, I are changing d world.”

Awareness is great, but what you decide to do with that awareness is what really matters.

And let’s be clear, there are slacktivists out there. While it may be romantic to think that these people spread awareness of an an idea, let’s be honest and admit that once that button is pressed most people don’t bother thinking about it anymore. And that’s fine. They have responsibilities, as your fellow cyberpatriot said.

However, I personally feel that if that’s the level of commitment someone can give to a cause, then he/she might as well be honest with and admit that he doesn’t care enough.

Dante:

I saw that a lot back in UP, when I was a student and later an instructor. Certain people have this peculiar compulsion to be ‘part of something important’ yet not actually do enough of the mental or physical legwork. And it would really be a cause du jour situation for them because they’d just cause-hop constantly, like following fashion trends. It’s less about the cause than it is about defining your identity.

(above image taken from Fcuk Earth Hour)

“I think that one of the greatest fallacies of our time — and one of the greatest leaps in logic that is made again and again by people who involve themselves in the worthwhile struggle to bring equality to all people — is the notion that awareness equals involvement. ” – Joshua Ellis, The Kitty Genovese Model

Excerpts from an exchange I had on Twitter that progressed onto e-mail:

Me:

I think Filipinos need to go beyond mere expressions of outrage/concern and actually do concrete things to contribute to society.

Jed:

Good point. But action begins somewhere. If they’re not willing to speak, how can we expect them to act?

Me:

If these aren’t followed by action, talk is cheap. I’m just annoyed by slacktivism.

Jed:

Before the word “slacktivism” was invented, there was a similar term used by those in The Movement to refer to the comrades or kasama who were averse to the more traditional modes of pagkikilos (e.g., rallies, organizing, immersions), and preferred more “intellectual” forms of activism like writing and educational discussions. These kasama were disparagingly called “Armchair Activists,” and it was also used by many in the Left to put down left-leaning “moderate” activists who did not interact with the masses and instead chose to fight for their advocacies from the comfortable, airconditioned rooms of their houses.

…Your views on slacktivism are shared by many, especially those like yourself who are really DOING SOMETHING to make the world a better place. To a certain extent, your opinion of people who engage in (to quote from the Wikipedia entry) “feel-good measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction” like “signing internet petitions, the wearing of wristbands (“awareness bracelets”) with political messages, putting a ribbon magnet on a vehicle, joining a Facebook group, posting issue-oriented YouTube videos, altering one’s personal data or avatar on social network services, or taking part in short-term boycotts such as Buy Nothing Day or Earth Hour” is justified. Again, to a certain extent.

However, I’ve always subscribed to the belief that ANYTHING is better than outright apathy… Let’s keep in mind that no matter how disparaging the term “slacktivism” is, the word “act” can still be found in it––you just have to knock out a couple of letters to get it.

As inconsequential as these “feel-good measures” are, one has to give credit to the people doing these because at least they care enough to do something to assuage the guilt they feel from doing nothing at all. Kung tibak ka noon sa UP, magandang sign na yan. Freshmen students who wore issue-related pins (Ibasura ang TFI!) and attended EDs were considered ripe for organizing; writers who showed some concern for the marginalized in their essays in the school paper were potential recruits. If I were organizing today, I would look at my FB contacts who consistently join FB causes and post “issue-oriented YouTube videos” and invite them to an ED. Then I would invite them to another meeting. And another. Then I would ask them to do some small task––say, maybe, distribute flyers at a particular college––then another, until before you know it, sobrang involved na ang tao na sya na mismo gagalaw ng kusa.

I agree that people aren’t DOING enough, and that talk is CHEAP. But to get people involved enough to convince them to cross the huge divide that separates sentiment from concrete action, one has to take advantage of the means available to sow the seeds of true ACTivism. Kung ang rally o mobilasyon ngayon ay nakikitang laos na porma ng pakikibaka, dapat handa ang mga organiser na magbago ng stratehiya upang mapaunawa sa masa ang isyu at mapakilos ito. Kung tingin ng iba na ang social networking sites ay pwedeng gamitin para mapalahok ang kabataan, di gamitin natin.

Me:

I’ve got nothing against “intellectual” forms of activism. In fact, a lot of my activities would fall under that category… I spend a LOT of time talking about democracy and civic duty and social responsibility and volunteerism etc…

No argument between us on the importance of public discourse. You can’t care about things you don’t understand. Awareness and information are definitely key to any kind of social transformation. The more people who understand an issue, the greater their capacity to care about it. (Of course, it doesn’t necessarily follow that if one understands an issue one will have an emotional response and be moved to action, but understanding is a necessary pre-condition for meaningful participation.)

It’s not so much the “feel-good measures” themselves that annoy me. It’s the over-blown sense of self-importance of some of the people who engage in them. Go ahead and wear your IAmNinoy shirt or AkoMismo dog tag or who create a Facebook page for the cause du jour but don’t delude yourself that you’re making some huge contribution to society. Those “feel-good measures” have their place but let’s keep things in perspective. In the greater scheme of things, they mean very little…

I agree that caring a little is better than not caring at all. And that these token expressions of concern are opportunities to engage “slacktivists” in more substantial activities. I’m just petty and irate.

…I feel that if people just do what they can, in the place that they are, in the time that they have, collectively we can do great things.

I get messaged a lot by random white guys, and you’d think I’d be used to it by now, but they still manage to surprise me. They just keep getting weirder and weirder.

Woman of my dreams,

Do you believe that “reality” can limit has what we perceive, believe today, all the more with the last discoveries of point, like that of astrophysics, of Laurent Nottale for example, by its multivers (universe in onion skins, nests of dolls or parallel universes), or that of the theory of the cords and the great M?

We thus know never what is really possible and impossible. Also, we can be in this existence, as we can already have been it in another, or several other former existences, like being it currently in a parallel universe and to be it still in one or more future lives.

For me, by what I “reached”, that is an obvious truth but it is also field of what Buddhism names Mâyâ (Illusion) , by the wheel of died and the rebirths, and I acted, with many others, so that the whole of “expressed” is released some.

The love is the only guide. It includes the respect, freedom, the tolerance and excludes all negative behavior, like wanting to direct the others or to oblige them in a conditioned sociocultural behavior. The love prevents any domination on the other, like that of the adults on the children. (1) But especially, it is the guide which allows the passage and the guard of the failure, compared to oneself initially then with respect to the others. Then the possibilities come from the truth and freedom.

I am Enz, French painter, sculptor, designer, writer: frontier runner towards the shore. I want the division, without any exclusion, which is of geographical origin, social background, sex, age, generation, mentality, temperament… Each one can bring so much has each one. And it division is richer by the differences.

I must however say to you that, from my existential course, my individuation to reach it to Oneself, to employ the terminology of analytical psychology, or my alchemy “to carry out” the Philosopher’s stone, to speak about the Philosopher’s stone, or Wuxing, according to Chinese Zen, Mushin for Japanese, I am carrying a new ethics which makes all the more inadequate and alienating old morals.

I currently live in a village of France, at two hours of Paris. I also wish to have a residence and a workshop is in the United States, or in China or in a country of Asia, or that of the person with whom I will be accessory in the existence. I seek also the accomplice who could be my partner in my businesses related to my art and my writings.

You can be my wife, but you can also be my partner responsible for the businesses. In effect, I want to develop my activity by creations of great achievements for the companies, the department stores, and will cetera, and in the reproduction of my creations on utility supports (clothing, linen, crockery, pottery, furniture, and will cetera…). I currently seek investors.

I kiss you very pretty Aissa, with the hope which you will become my wife.

Enz

(1) To read “For decoloniser the child”, Gerald MENDEL, ED. Small Payot library)