While I’m a huge fan of diversity and a difference of
opinion I got to say I hate the armchair activists that live in this city.
Everyone has a cause and I respect that especially if you are well informed,
educated, and passionate about the topic that affects you. What I have a
problem with are those people who pop off at the mouth, quote rumor as fact,
and hop on board with any bandwagon issue that happens to be this week’s Social
Media cause of the week.
Austin seems to have a large group, in my experience, with
those that are less informed but way more vocal than other areas in which I
have lived. I find this very interesting because Austin is the state capital
and has one of the best colleges in the country with an extremely active
liberal following and political program. Yet despite this mecca of knowledge
the masses are fine with just reading about the events on Social Media,
changing their internet picture and showing up to a rally that someone setup on
Facebook.
What does this have to do with Government? Our local government
is failing this generation. Rather than engage them via the avenues in which
they can gather the most attention (like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc) and
harness the young political minds that are at their fingertips, I feel like
they are just playing to the ‘Old School’ by making large scale decisions and
holding city hearings in a boring drab ass council chamber. They focus on
issues not relevant to the younger masses and or those issues that aren't ‘sexy’
or are too controversial. With the majority of this city being liberal, and
children from all over Texas flocking here for school they are missing a huge
chance to cross pollinate, educate, inform, and the redistribute the knowledge
and the masses across the rest of the state. Planting the seed is only the first step, but if presented in a mobile, consumable way , their attention span IS limited to 144 characters, you increase the chance of them actually looking deeper into the issue than just the tagline.
We may have a chance to actually fix this state, but only if people stop posting about it, and start doing something about it, people and politicians both.
A fellow classmate blogger noted some interesting topics of conversation on his blog, "Its Called Texas." The assertion is clear from the first paragraph stating his penchant distaste for armchair activism in Austin. His argument addresses a phenomenon that has been occurring alongside the expansion of the social media platform- user knowledge diffusion. Current globalization demands the necessity for efficiently spreading information. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been at the forefront of user interaction and information awareness. With various apps on Facebook, users have the ability to be "activists" by championing for these causes.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Its Called Texas, activism induced by social media is inherently "armchair activism." While I do essentially attest to the notion that the term "armchair" is accurate, activism itself has a dynamic definition.
Though I did think Austin.. The Breeding Ground of the Armchair Advocate was a well- verbalized op-ed piece, I found it quite contradictory near the ending. The last assertion made in the second paragraph states a necessity to engage the younger generation yet in the beginning, it was clear that social media activism was merely "armchair activism" fueled by rumors, inaccurate info, and heresay.
Despite the contradiction, I do strongly believe that youth activism is necessity to a reflective and effective governing body. However, the job of the legislature is not to encourage participation, rather spread accurate policy information. Participation is spurred through passion- something that can be ignited through education and formal internships.
Though there are certain parts of contention and agreement between my classmate and I, I do believe that youth activism is necessary.
But, I think it's important to note that interest in "what people do with their guns and their uteruses" are issues that affect a broad array of people and thus are necessary for "youth" and state to be engaged in.