Infographic Activism

As Sarah taps through her friends' Instagram stories she sees many of them have reposted screenshots or posts from social justice organizations and news sources about a recent hate crime that happened in a nearby city in which a high school student was violently attacked. Sarah agrees with what all her friends are posting including comments about how terrible the attack was and pointing out how this event is connected to larger systemic issues. Many of her friends have simply reposted news headlines that state the event happened. Sarah has been trying to keep up to date about what is going on through reading the news and talking with her parents. However, she’s been feeling conflicted about posting something herself, especially as the online rhetoric becomes increasingly removed from the initial event. One of her classmates reposted an infographic that said “Silence makes you complicit”. The post stuck with Sarah who has now been feeling bad about not posting on her story. At the same time, she’s concerned that her posting something wouldn’t make a difference and might even be wrong because she would only be doing it because of the pressure from her peers. Sarah doesn’t want to seem like she doesn’t care about the ongoing issue and has been actively planning to go to a nearby protest, but she also doesn’t want to be performative and only post because of the social pressure. After talking to her best friend, Sarah is even more conflicted. Her friend, Theo, said it's good to post because it spreads awareness to those who might be following her on Instagram and shows solidarity. He spoke about his own experiences learning about issues going on in their city because of posts his friends had made. Sarah isn’t quite sure she fully agrees. She thinks all of the people who follow her are seeing the information on other platforms and from peers. She doesn’t feel comfortable acting as a news source for her peers because new actions and information keep coming out. Another one of her friends posted something saying the victim had attended their rival high school but this was quickly found to be false. Sarah doesn’t want to accidentally post incorrect information. She also is worried about making people too focused on the pretty infographics and words rather than getting involved with protests, non-profits, or local government as ways of making genuine change.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.Who has a responsibility or the right to share information during times of social justice movements/conflicts? 2.Do we have a moral responsibility to share information and social justice stances on social media? What might we be obligated to share? From where might such a moral responsibility come from?

3.Does silence make you complicit? Are there situations where this is more or less true than others?