Via Lorin Arnold

on Apr 6, 2012

Slacktivism: What Are We Fighting For? {Video}

A Musical Response to Kony 2012 by Mister Biscuit.

If you haven’t been under a rock lately, you’ve probably heard about the Kony 2012 campaign. The video sparked an amazing amount of social media attention, with over 87,000,000 views on Youtube alone.

After the video caught fire in the online world, critiques of the organization, Invisible Children, began to surface. In addition to issues with the organization, a variety of scholars and bloggers critiqued the intent of the film, and the very idea of “going after” a particular man via a viral video campaign.  Others questioned the utility of activism that consists of clicking “like” or “share,” while surfing the web, with little knowledge of the complexity of the issue.

In that spirit, producer Mister Biscuit has created a music video that questions our willingness to engage in social media action without being sure what we are doing, or why.  It’s worth a look, and even a “share.”

Check out Mister Biscuit at http://mister-biscuit.com and weigh in below on your thoughts regarding social media activism.

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I'm a university professor, not-that-kind-of-doctor, family and gender communication scholar, spouse, vegan (not a real fur), and mother of six.  I'm a little goofy and a little serious, organized and kind of a mess. In my "spare" time, I teach yin and vinyasa yoga and write The VeganAsana - a blog about yoga and green eating/cooking.  I consider the blog, and my work with elephant journal my little effort to ponder yoga and veganism, and how they intersect, in a way that helps me develop understandings of self, provides information for others, and allows me to rock my creative smarty pants.