A sentiment that I have heard many times is that the younger generation does not know how to form a protest, that they are not active but only sedentary in their beliefs, and that they no longer affirm that they need to fight for what they believe in.
This sentiment has become hushed in the recent years, as the “young generation” that once was have grown up to become protesters just like their parents. Fighting battles, in person, which have become increasingly violent as the techniques that police officers use become more brutal.
However, there is still an ideal set by the older generation, which states that sedentary protest (specifically online protests) don’t work. That as many times as you click “like” next to a cause you believe in, it won’t do anything, it is just another interest on your long interest page that no one ever reads.
What most of these people in the older demographic fail to understand is that strange thing has happened within the past year or two of online social media. Those politicians – especially one’s looking for the vote – have begun listening to what interests you, and the easiest way to find this out is online. They have been looking to social media to find out the majority interest, the majority opinion, and what has been posted/retweeted/commented on the most.
This is why the SOPA blackout last Wednesday was monumental in the making of the new wave of political activism. For those of you who didn’t see it, or may have not been near a computer, the blackout was formed by a variety of websites in protest of heightened copyright restrictions in the United States. Each site essentially refused their service to anyone who happened upon them.
This caused some confusion with those who were not aware of the blackout’s pending doom, but otherwise it simply formed a radical discussion, and for those who weren’t committed to discussing, a re-tweeted, re-posted demi-discussion online.
A week later, we are left in the wake of the results. President Obama has made an official statement to the press that he is unhappy with the wording of the SOPA bill, and if it was put to vote today he might be forced to not back it. Soon after, the “hollywood authorities” threatened to take away key Democratic funding. Then even more recently Megavideo, a popular website which illegally streamed television shows and movies, was shut down. So, we all ask, was the blackout even worth it?
The bill has been pushed back, but much like Canadian’s current battle with mega-corporations over the usage based billing policy, it is far from being over. There has already been talk online of a more consumer-based protest, whereby people would halt purchasing/downloading/streaming for a month, just to show the result of what could happen if they did.
I am a non-believer in the ability of a large group to halt purchasing goods, because we are in a consumer-based economy, but I believe this attention and discussion is important in itself. For if we aren’t to discuss, how are we to learn? And that goes for the politicians too.
