Every once in awhile, something pops up on facebook that makes even less sense to me than 90% of the other stuff that pops up on facebook.
This time around it's a meme where you replace your profile picture with a cartoon and change your status to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect. I know for me, the first thing I think of when I see a cartoon character is not child abuse or neglect - it's internet porn. Rule 34, destroying my childhood one precious memory at a time (hence my own relatively facebook-safe irony-laced profile picture). I know for some people, it's a constant reminder of abuse they may have suffered as a child (luckily for me, the abuse I suffered wasn't during the Saturday morning cartoons for the most part).
How exactly is this accomplishing anything? It's not as though anyone is posting any phone numbers to child abuse/neglect hotlines, advertising charitable organizations that work for abused children or giving practical information on how to spot and report abuse/neglect. Nope, it's just changing your profile picture to a cartoon & posting a status stating why you've done so.
I often find myself wondering about the types of people who are facebook activists. Do they actually go out and do anything for the causes they are promoting on their pages, or do they just 'like' any socially just fad that flashes by them? It reminds me of all these online petitions. Do the petitions actually go anywhere or do anything or change anything, or do they just rot on some server, taking up storage space?
Any thoughts?
This time around it's a meme where you replace your profile picture with a cartoon and change your status to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect. I know for me, the first thing I think of when I see a cartoon character is not child abuse or neglect - it's internet porn. Rule 34, destroying my childhood one precious memory at a time (hence my own relatively facebook-safe irony-laced profile picture). I know for some people, it's a constant reminder of abuse they may have suffered as a child (luckily for me, the abuse I suffered wasn't during the Saturday morning cartoons for the most part).
How exactly is this accomplishing anything? It's not as though anyone is posting any phone numbers to child abuse/neglect hotlines, advertising charitable organizations that work for abused children or giving practical information on how to spot and report abuse/neglect. Nope, it's just changing your profile picture to a cartoon & posting a status stating why you've done so.
I often find myself wondering about the types of people who are facebook activists. Do they actually go out and do anything for the causes they are promoting on their pages, or do they just 'like' any socially just fad that flashes by them? It reminds me of all these online petitions. Do the petitions actually go anywhere or do anything or change anything, or do they just rot on some server, taking up storage space?
Any thoughts?
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