Quote:
Originally Posted by sigmadiva
See, I think people commit to a cause to a level that they feel comfortable. That threshold of "real activist" vs. "slacktivist" is different for different people and we need to accept that.
Where one person may be a real activist for one cause, they may slack a bit on another.
There are so many strong emotional causes out there, how do you pick which one should deserve the most attention? In the span of a 30 min news program, they showed stories on the Anthony trial, an Iraqi vet who is a quadruple amputee getting a new home, and terrible fighting between Northern and Southern Sudan in Africa.
You can only spread yourself so far.
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The issue isn't "spreading yourself too thin" - people who put in actual effort anywhere are awesome, and it's incredible they give their limited time and resources to the greater good.
The issue is people who click a Facebook link instead of doing something 'for real' because that satisfies their own personal desire to be a good person (or look like a good person). Lazy people have an escape hatch that really didn't exist before.
Of course, these people may have 9 kids and have absolutely zero time - in that case, of course a petition or similar might be all they can pitch in. That's fine. It just looks suspiciously like cause-jumping to say "I AM A GOOD PERSON, I AM A PART OF THIS" for so many people. It looks like clicking a link to impress friends and neighbors, or to create an image. I reserve the right to judge these people as assholes, even though that makes me an asshole in turn. I'm fine with that.