Slacktivism or Activism? Virtue Signalling and the Trending Nature of Social Justice

 by Amelia R

Slacktivism is the relatively low-effort, low-commitment practice of using social media or internet petitions to promote political or social causes. Some would label this as virtue signalling or a haphazard attempt to stir up social change because performative activism is limited to "trending" issues. Though the superficial word “trending” is uncomfortable, it encapsulates how, unfortunately, socio-political issues that affect people's lives and integrity are regarded as a trend cycle. Even though it may sound cynical and regrettable, the Middle East conflict has been deteriorating for about a century, yet media attention to it has only recently become prevalent.

There appears to be a trend cycle in social justice, one that addresses issues of public concern but then ignores them without producing significant change. For example, many people with huge platforms merely uploaded a dark screen with the hashtag #blackoutthursday when the BLM movement received a wave of support in 2020. Since this type of action doesn't result in significant change, it appears performative. It appears that posting on Instagram about a hot topic is considered a short-term necessity to allay worries about getting cancelled. Furthermore, it is considered "too political" to address really divisive topics that call for the voices of powerful people to be heard. For instance, a lot of famous people avoid talking about Israel and Gaza because they believe it to be "too political," even though they do not care to share this perspective when they express their support for Ukraine, a political subject. It appears that subjects that are "trending"—that is, those that, when discussed, do not elicit negative reactions—are supported. For instance, if someone publicly declares their support for LGBTQ rights or opposition to institutionalised racism. The stance is not progressive and shouldn't be honoured because it is the bare minimum, even though these are still pressing issues.

Furthermore, as it relates to the calibre of activism, it is impractical to expect everyone to be vehemently committed to every trending issue. The only way to be concerned about environmental regulations, Indigenous Treaty Rights, Middle East tensions, etc. is to be superficially concerned about each topic. For instance, activists like Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai have intense, focused, and emotional discussions about topics like the environment and women's rights. They are able to discuss their problems more effectively, even though they don't often discuss topics like Stop Asian Hate. Quality matters more than quantity, but being "woke" distorts this. The issue with performative activism and viewing social justice as a passing fad is that people are more interested in feeling as though they have made a difference than they are in considering the long-term effects. It is more important to show genuine support for a form of social justice than to elicit performative and ingenious activism for an issue as a sort of virtue signalling.