{"id":1088,"date":"2019-09-15T10:49:17","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T16:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/?page_id=1088"},"modified":"2019-09-15T10:49:19","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T16:49:19","slug":"voices-for-social-change","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/voices-for-social-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices for Social Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


\nThere is no better tool for uniting people locally and globally than social\nnetworking. The ability for like-minded activist to easily find each other and\ncreate communities revolving around social change is one of the best things\nthat has come out of the 21st<\/sup> century so far. As Joni mentioned in\nher post, things like the \u201cMe Too\u201d movement and \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d would not\nhave been able to make the impact that we are seeing in our society today\nwithout the use of social networking. Before social networking, voices were not\nheard or simply ignored. But when thousands are saying the same message, things\ntend to be put into motion much more quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We saw that with huge figures such as Harvey Weinstein. He\nwas able to get away with sexually abusing women for years because their\nstories were never heard. The silence made otherwise heinous acts normalized in\nthe industry. Natalie Portman said in an interview that at the time, she just\nthought that was how Hollywood operated (https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/entertainment\/natalie-portman-had-no-female-friends-in-hollywood-until-times-up<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is only\none example, but change groups are gathering and making their voices heard. Because\nof social networking, we can dismantle beliefs and normalized practices that\nare wrong and unjust. From gun violence to sexual abuse, social networking can\nset change into motion with a unified front that can not be silenced or\nignored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Joni mentioned in her post, social\nnetworking also allows us to reach across vast distances to create communities\nwith people that otherwise do not get heard in our own local networks. A big example\nthat comes to mind right now are the protests happening in Hong Kong. China is\nextremely restrictive with what news gets out into the world about political\nand social matters. However, due to social networking, the world has been able\nto see the pro-democracy protestors and the violent response that have occurred\nfor the last 15 weeks (cnn.com\/asia\/live-news\/hong-kong-protests-sept-15-intl-hnk\/index.html).\nAs I\u2019m typing this, news reports are coming in of police firing tear gas into\ncrowds. I can watch videos of people being beaten and harassed. It\u2019s not\ncomfortable to see, but it does allow me to access a social issue in a more\nvisceral way that otherwise would have been off my radar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, social networking also has\nbeen an issue for groups that are spreading messages of hate. Groups like the\nalt-right have used Twitter as a way to organize mass rallies to preach\ndoctrines of racism and xenophobia. I\u2019m sure we all remember the murder of a young\nwoman who was struck by a car at a neo-Nazi rally in Virginia (https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/2018\/12\/07\/neo-nazi-convicted-murder-charlottesville-car-assault-killed-heather-heyer\/2243848002\/<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned in a previous post, I think it is important\nfor social networking sites to have firm rules and expectations about the use\nof their platforms. Too many platforms like Twitter use the first amendment\nexcuse. They won\u2019t get involved in stopping messages of hate. But when those\nmessages become organized groups that go out into the physical world and hurt\npeople, the platform is partially to blame for not preventing these atrocities\nfrom happening in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are in what I like to call the \u201cwild-west\u201d phase of the\ninternet. It is a relatively new landscape that is just starting to be tapped\nfor its full potential. The possibilities are endless, but the rules are also gray\nat best. The simple fact of the matter is that the rules and laws that govern\ncountries can not be simply transferred to the internet. It\u2019s its own beast\nthat needs to be approached differently in order to promote positive networks\nand prevent potentially harmful organizations from gathering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easier said then done, I know, but we\u2019re working toward that\nfuture. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no better tool for uniting people locally and globally than social networking. The ability for like-minded activist to easily find each other and create communities revolving around social change is one of the best things that has come out of the 21st century so far. As Joni mentioned in her post, things like … Continue reading “Voices for Social Change”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1088","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1090,"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1088\/revisions\/1090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joannadunlap.com\/5665fall19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}