Is Virtual Protest making us Apathetic?

You receive an email, a twitter link or an invitation to a virtual event on Facebook or any other social media. The themes go from Saving the Whales to Free Tibet (and every good cause in between). You read the reason for the event and the awful facts which cause a certain injustice; you become outraged, click on the button to participate/sign/send a virtual message and a sense of satisfaction fills you up for a moment. After 30 minutes, you have forgotten all about it and are busy with your daily routine. 

We have all received these requests. They are Virtual Protests. An idea conceived, among other things, to protect the participants from serious danger whilst giving them the opportunity to raise their voice to, in many times, a difficult cause[1]. This idea, in theory, sounds perfect; you will share your voice with the world while protected by the "anonymity" the Internet allows but in practice, in my opinion, this method makes us lazy while feeling an underserved sense of reward and peace of mind for having done the "right thing".

What happened to the real, live action protests? The Civil Right Movement of Martin Luther King Jr.; the protests of May 1968 in France or the squatter protests in Amsterdam during Queen Beatrix coronation in 1980; these were protests filled with real human faces and emotions, protests that reached the core of the issue at hand, worrying the leaders of the countries and catching the eye of the International Community. And although some of these protests did not see a very successful conclusion, they still changed rules and ideologies in their time. They became part of our history and still remain in the collective conscience giving us the unity so badly needed to improve our quality of life.

With Virtual Protests, however, how do we measure the results? You receive an email telling you that your virtual signature helped save a child you've never even seen, a law you will never read in some distant country where you have never been? How can we as humans, brothers and sisters be satisfied with a simple email? these are not real results, this is us individuals searching for a feel good moment, perhaps to stop feeling guilt for becoming an investment banker instead of the fire fighter or policeman you wanted to be as a child. The virtual protests gives you that nice selfish feeling that YOU made a change (a virtual one that is) and that you were a good humanitarian even if only for 2 minutes of your day. 

My biggest fear of Virtual protest? The next step: Once again you receive an email, a twitter link or an invitation to a virtual event on Facebook or any other social media. The themes go from Saving the Whales to Free Tibet except this time you can’t be bothered to care at all. You have receive this requests with the fury and the speed of spam emails and by now even clicking the link is too much for you. Complete and utter apathy has settled and it will take a strong and awful situation to get you to care once again. The worse part: you won’t even notice, you will simply think, "I'm busy and the Dolphins or the occupied people of Nepal will have to make do without my signature this time... maybe tomorrow".                                                                                 

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[1] http://globalfree.wordpress.com/virtual-protests-explained/