Sunday, May 11, 2014

Lazy Sunday # 324: Hashtag Activism

If you tweeted or facebooked something like the above this week, I hope you feel good about yourself.

Because what you mostly revealed to the world is what a self-absorbed, uninformed and ineffectual little douche you are.

Oh, I know you’re upset that a bunch of Nigerian thugs abducted a bunch of schoolgirls and threatened to sell them into slavery.

I am too.

I just don’t get why you weren’t upset a couple of months ago when these same guys locked dozens of boys inside their school and set it on fire, burning alive those who hadn’t already had their throats slit or were shot while they slept.

Would a picture of you with a hashtag back then have stopped them from committing their latest atrocity?

Then why do you think it’ll make a difference now?

Do you honestly believe that the members of Boko Haram sit around their jungle hideouts, where the high speed wi-fi is fricken awesome, and catch up on their twitter feeds after a hard day of burning churches and hospitals?

And you looking pissed holding a sign is just the sort of thing that will make them have a change of heart. Right?

Because both the problem and the solutions are a little more complex than even Siri can handle. Hard as that may be for you to fathom.

I’ll bet most of you don’t even know that Hillary Clinton had a chance to stop Boko Haram from getting the money and guns that have made them what they are several years ago. But didn’t.

Or that Moveon.org, one of the groups now pushing the above hashtag, as well as so many of those “progressive” petitions you sign and send around, lobbied her not to declare them a terrorist organization.

But that lack of knowledge hasn’t prevented you from being a dependable mobile totin’, thumb-typin’ little Lemming whenever the latest cause celebre comes along. Has it?

Do you already have your sign ready for when this starts happening to school girls in Afghanistan again? Or maybe since the ideological brothers of Boko Haram are only scarring them with acid or cutting off their noses but haven’t stepped over the human slavery line, you’re kinda okay with that?

Or perhaps you can’t because of all those hashtags you posted demanding we get out of that country –- and you don’t want to look like you’re flip-flopping or lose your Cyber-cred.

Do you not understand you’re just being played because your leaders don’t want to tackle the real problem, but know that as long as you can feel good about yourself that’s all that matters?

View image on Twitter

Look, I’m not expecting you to hop on the #bringbackourballs bandwagon started by Mark Steyn. Or otherwise trash anything you truly believe in your hearts.

I’m just asking you to take the time to learn what’s really going on before immediately knee-jerking to what “somebody” expects of you to further their own agenda.

And then – Enjoy Your Sunday…

1 comment:

Birgit said...

I love what you wrote. I can not write it as eloquently and succinctly as you did but I agree. Last night My husband and I were watching the news and they brought up how the stars and others are coming together to fight this horror. Then we saw Anne Hathaway yelling into a loudspeaker that one should write on facebook, twitter and honk if you agree with her that they should bring the girls back. I looked at my husband in utter disbelief. I said "Why the F would they listen to her and all these others-They don't give a rat's ass. My husband just said these "stars" just want to hop on the next "save the whale" bandwagon. We both mentioned what else did this terrorist group do because this is not the first thing. I appreciate that you placed on your blog the areas that one can read up more on this group. It's funny how money rules (Hilary). I love Bill Maher and wish I could see his show. He is so intelligent and speaks the truth in so many ways. I wish I had the ability to say it in such a manner or write it