Social Media Activism Masterpost
Social Media Activism
The average person who is not in politics is only going to put their focus into 2-4 political/social issues.
Spending your time, energy, and effort on about 2-4 political/social issues is more sustainable than “focusing” on every issue in the world.
If someone is straight and black, they are going to prioritize black issues over LGBT issues.
If someone is gay and white, they are going to prioritize LGBT issues over black issues.
It’s better to give 40% of your focus and effort to 2-3 issues than it is to give 2% of your effort to 20 different issues.
It’s not “selective activism” to focus on one or two issues and actually put energy into them, because it’s not activism at all to just retweet threads about what’s going on in the world or putting the issues in the world carrd in your bio. (Both retweeting threads and carrds and putting important issues carrds in your bio is a very good thing to do and can be helpful, but it is not activism.)
You should never feel guilty about prioritizing issues that directly affect you and your communities over issues that don’t. You shouldn’t let people who try to guilt trip you about your efforts let you feel like you’re not doing or caring enough.
Chances are, they are the people who aren’t really doing anything to actually help anyone.
If someone tweets something like “if your timeline isn’t full of carrds and petitions, you’re not following the right people” or “where’s the energy for (x issues) that everybody had for (y issue)” or “your selective activism is showing”, they’re probably the kind of people who is only supporting these issues to brag about their morals and try to make themselves look better than others. Social media “activism” is often used to tear other people down to bring themselves up. This kind of activism is toxic and just for show. (And yet, I guess it’s better than no activism at all, because at least if people are retweeting the issues just to brag that they retweeted the issues, the issues are still getting spread regardless of the reason behind it.)
Yes, it is a good thing to retweet petitions and informational threads, but it gets problematic when it’s weaponized as a badge of moral high ground and used to guilt trip and gaslight other people.
Feminist accounts are going to focus on women’s issues.
LGBT accounts are going to focus on LGBT issues.
Mental health accounts are going to focus on mental health issues.
Environmental accounts are going to focus on environmental issues.
This is completely normal and completely fine.
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Your mental health is more important than your social media activism.
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Part of being an ally is forming your own opinions.
I’ve seen a lot of people get questions either in their inbox or in their curious cat messages about certain social/political issues and their answers will be “I’m not part of that community, so I can’t say”. For instance, a trans person will ask a question prefacing that they are trans, give their opinion, and then ask the other person for theirs, and the answer they will get back is “I’m not trans, so I can’t say”.
The better way for allies to answer these kinds of questions would be to preface by saying: “I’m not trans (or part of the community in which is being asked about), so I have not had the same experiences.” Acknowledge the other person’s views if they have stated them, then you can say "please correct me if I’m wrong” if you want to before giving your opinion, then “here’s what I think/here’s my take” and then give your opinion. You should give your opinion because that’s what they are asking of you.
If it’s truly something you do not know enough about, you can say that you don’t know enough about the issue, and you’re not as educated as you would like to be, and state that you’ll come back to it after educating yourself (if you plan on educating yourself on the issue, which, as an ally, you should) or just educate yourself first and then answer the question.
And if you’re not going to respond in one of those two ways, you just shouldn’t answer/post the question.
Saying “I’m not part of X community, so I can’t answer that question/I don’t get a say” takes the pressure off of you (the ally) and puts it back on the community who already has the pressure on them.
Saying “I’m not part of the community, so I don’t get a say” feels like an excuse to not get involved in said issues; i.e. not calling out people who are being transphobic/ homophobic, etc. or actively choosing to not educate yourself or spread awareness because you’re not part of the community and it’s not your problem. It feels like you’re saying “I’m not part of this community, this person’s community/issues make me uncomfortable, so I’m going to stay out of it.“
If a trans person is asking a cis person a question on trans issues, they want to know the cis person’s opinion. They want to know a wider range of opinions on these issues. They are trans and can provide a trans opinion to the discussion, but they’re not cis and cannot provide a cis opinion, so when they ask a cis person for their opinion, they expect an answer.
When someone asks for your opinion it’s because they want to know your opinion. This is obviously not the same thing as trans people talking about trans issues with other trans people and then a cis person interjects with their unsolicited, unprovoked cis opinion.
Sometimes not answering comes across as "I don’t want to be a part of your problems, I’m going to stay out of it” and it seems like you don’t care enough about these communities and these issues to get involved.
It sounds like you’re saying “that’s your problem, figure it out yourself” and it doesn’t feel like I have your support. It feels like you’re trying to get away from helping/supporting me.
If I ask a question and then nobody answers, I’m left just as confused as I was before I asked. Nobody helped me, and I wanted help.
Sometimes it feels like the question is being brushed off as if it’s not even important. But I’m sure it’s important to the person who’s asking the question.
Sometimes it feels like someone asks “should trans people have equal rights” then get in response, “sorry I’m not trans, so I don’t get a say”. Like, no, you do get a say. Hopefully your answer is yes, trans people should have equal rights, and as an ally, it probably is. When you vote, you are giving your opinion on other communities’ issues, so people do expect you to answer their questions about their communities’ issues when you are asked.
Obviously white people shouldn’t be telling poc what is and isn’t racist (example below**), and men shouldn’t be telling women what is and is not misogynistic (example below*) and cishet people shouldn’t be telling queer people what is and is not homophobic or transphobic, but if someone from a certain community asks someone who has defined themself as an ally a question about a certain issue they are facing, they do not want to get an answer of “I’m not part of that community, so I can’t say”. It just isn’t helpful.
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* For example (men shouldn’t be telling women what is and is not misogynistic)
During the Olympics, I was with a group of people. One was a man, the rest of the group were women. The man brought up trans women competing in women’s sports and how it was unfair to women, it was misogynistic, it was an attack on women, and women need to stand up and speak out against it. Almost every woman in the group said that it isn’t misogynistic, that trans women are actually at a disadvantage to cis women because their estrogen levels are higher than cis women, and that trans women have every right to compete in women’s sports. The man doubled down, saying that men and women are born with different bodies and that men have the athletic advantage (which isn’t even true). To which the women continued to try to explain to him that the only real advantage men have athletically comes from hormone differences, which after taking HRT and meeting athletic requirements, the advantage is already long gone and there is no issue with trans women competing in women’s sports. Again the women reiterated that trans women competing in women’s sports is not misogynistic and not an attack on women and there is nothing for women to speak out against, as we all thought it was a good thing that there were trans athletes competing at the Olympic level. Of course the man (who is ironically the most misogynistic person I have ever met) played the victim and said how hurt he was that we told him that his attempts at feminism were actually far more misogynistic than what he had tried to pass off as misogynistic.
This was an example of a man trying to tell women what is and is not misogynistic and actually trying to compel women to fight back against a real win for women. This was also an unprovoked comment, no woman had asked him his opinion on feminism, trans women, or women’s sports. He was trying to push his views and use feminism as an excuse to be openly transphobic. In this case, he was speaking over the actual group whose issues were in question, and not listening to them when they told him he was not being helpful.
** For example (white people shouldn’t be telling poc what is and isn’t racist)
One time, the same man from the above example, was having a conversation with some of his friends about the Redskins changing their name to the Washington Football Team. He said how the Redskins logo had been the image of a real person, not just a generalized caricature, and he said (condescendingly) “Well I think that’s racist” to remove the image of a real person. The issue was not whether the Washington logo was drawn in a mocking/racist way, or if it depicted a real person or a fictional person, the issue was that the Washington team was using a person’s race/ethnicity/culture as a mascot/costume, and using a derogatory term for their team name. As this man is not part of that race/ethnicity/culture/heritage, he cannot decide what is and is not racist to them. He can’t say something is racist when that group is saying it isn’t. He cannot say something that that group is saying is racist isn’t just because he likes football and doesn’t want his team name/mascot to change. In this case, again, he was speaking over the actual group whose issues were in question.
Obviously, these two examples are not the kind of giving your input that I had previously described.
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Overall, the point is that part of being an ally is educating yourself on issues that the community you are an ally to is facing, and forming your own opinions so that you can contribute to discussions when you are called upon to do so. As an ally you often have a louder voice or bigger platform to spread awareness /take a stand than the people who are part of the community that you are an ally to. Often when people of a certain community are asking for your opinion, they are asking for your help to spread awareness of their communities’ issues and be a loud voice and platform to help them. Refusing to contribute to discussions when called upon to do so is to turn your back on your role as an ally. Yes, allies should first and foremost uplift the voices of people who are part of the community and help put the attention on people who are trying to share their own experiences, but allies also need to be educated and be ready to contribute to said discussions when they are asked for their input.
Being an ally is an active role, not a passive one. It’s an action, not a title.