{"id":77027,"date":"2025-03-03T10:41:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T15:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=77027"},"modified":"2025-08-11T10:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:14:08","slug":"in-defense-of-so-called-slacktivism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/in-defense-of-so-called-slacktivism\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of So-Called ‘Slacktivism’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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No one expects to change the world in a day, or a post – but it’s a great starting-off point, Candice Helfand-Rogers says in this op-ed. (Credit: RDNE Stock Project, Pexels<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Americans recently took broad collective action<\/a> for a test drive, for the first time in a long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People throughout the nation engaged in an \u201ceconomic blackout<\/a>\u201d on Feb. 28, in which they avoided purchasing anything at all \u2013 an act of protest<\/a> against the most powerful and corporate-minded among us, expressed through how we did not<\/em> spend our hard-earned dollars that day, coordinated by a grassroots movement called The People\u2019s Union USA<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as word of the effort spread on social media, some responded to the invite by criticizing it \u2013 or outright mocking it. Such forms of political engagement are often dismissed as “slacktivism<\/a>\u201d or \u201chashtag activism,\u201d defined as acts of dissent that are conducted via online petitions or social media posts, which some feel are inherently lazy and low-stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the thing: No one expects a one-day blackout to tank the economy. And no one is saying that one day of anything<\/em> is going to turn a tide. But we need to start somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are not France in the late 1700s. We are working uphill in a nation that functions on capitalism and prizes individualism \u2013 and always has. The obligations our society places upon us to earn \u2013 and spend \u2013 drain us, and keep us apart. Not only that, we are deeply sad, and bone-tired<\/a> on a societal level. How do you galvanize such a group into mass action?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n \"MLK\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n

\n \n Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Love as a Bold and Intentional Thing\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Yet this particular action did get people excited<\/a>. Better yet, it encouraged broader thought about the impacts of our actions and spending habits. It got people talking with one another about such concepts \u2013 and asking others to engage in similar forms of consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I appreciate that this feels frustratingly slow to some, as progress goes. But these are good things I\u2019m describing. And when we are trying to build our own machine out of a people who have been wrenched from, and sometimes even pitted against one another\u2026 we must adjust our expectations of what it looks like to rally the masses. At least, to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ripples Must Become Waves<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let’s be clear \u2013 we must go further down this path, in order to realize visions of a better world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s why the blackout was always intended as a beginning call to action, rather than an end point. (And, it was always bigger than any one person, including an embattled leader<\/a>.) Subsequent boycotts<\/a> are planned, with more specific targets (including major retailer Target) in mind. More Insta-friendly protests and marches are in the works too, including over 200 Women\u2019s Marches<\/a> planned throughout the nation on March 8, aka International Women\u2019s Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research shows<\/a> that online-based activism can make a difference \u2013 as long as it\u2019s paired with such real-world, continual actions. Sharing an infographic or participating in a one-day effort will not spark the change we need, experts say \u2013 but as a means of organizing ongoing efforts, driving social narrative and creating mass consensus, such moves can be quite energizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in general, the more we bring people together to demonstrate collective power \u2013 and to demonstrate our ability<\/em> to gather in the first place \u2013 the better our fight will go. And, in a country run by autocrats, all of it matters. Indeed, the people who now govern the nation are actively working to make us dumber<\/a>, more frightened<\/a>, more miserable<\/a> and generally overwhelmed<\/a>. This makes us easier to control \u2013 and easier to keep apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything we do to combat that is a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are in this together \u2013 and the more we lean into that, in whatever ways we can that de-center individual objectives, the more powerful we become. It\u2019s true that our leaders won’t care about our displeasure. But they do and will care about our dissent \u2013 especially if we allow it to grow. ◼️<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n \"Ruwa\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n For Her, Elections Aren\u2019t About Winning \u2013 They\u2019re About Building\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some critiqued the recent economic blackout, noting that such one-off actions won’t effect change. But they were always designed to be a beginning, Candice Helfand-Rogers writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":77028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"No one expects to change the world in a day, or a post - but it's a great starting-off point, Candice Helfand-Rogers says in this op-ed.","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f","date":"2025-03-03T15:41:58+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3ljibzlmwxg2m","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3ljibzlmwxg2m\",\"cid\":\"bafyreib5fful2immy6gnoibopbarpevkdgsampxxb4iqfzursmdgdtzgmy\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreifmmn3gky2lcpa7ku6xplsma2add6refp5xyfkd6ndkpdsnsdw6sa\",\"rev\":\"3ljibzlnbp62m\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19648],"tags":[19773,20536,19645,19682],"class_list":["post-77027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-activism","tag-collective-action","tag-opinion","tag-women-empowerment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRead an Op-Ed on Activism, Slacktivism, Boycotts, Marches<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Op-Ed: Some critiqued the economic blackout, noting that one-off actions won't effect change. 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