Lazy Activism: Are you a Lazy Activist?

#6431truth, #FreeKashmir, #BlackLivesMatter, #FightForHongKong, #FreePalestine

It's quite possible that you have knowingly, within a blink of eye, 'retweeted' or published such hashtags on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. I am guilty too, yes 'guilty' because it's part of symptom called lazy activism. 

Isn't activism the trait of a morally conscious human being? Unless you care about your something, how else will it get any better, right? The answer is yes and yes.

But, too many of us are prone to lazy activism. We're quick to share the hashtags and change our profile pictures with superficial opinions we've created on the spur of the moment or based on stereotypes. 

Since I too have suffered from the same, I'm tried to understand some of the symptoms from my past behavior as well as from what's available from external sources like news, essays etc.

Disclaimer: Being an Asian, my viewpoints are derived from contemporary debates in India, China and other parts of Asia. I do not have much historical context in African, American or European debates that are currently active in these societies, hence my examples and paradigm are from an Asian perspective, so in case you are interested in other geographies then you may at this point close the tab.

Your activism was swayed by images and hashtags. We saw recently, in both February 2020 New Delhi riots as well as recent civil unrest after George Floyd's death due to excessive force use by police in United States, that celebrities and others were quick to jump on changing their profile pictures and status just because it was the latest fad. If you're doing it because it's something everyone on social media platforms is doing, then you're a lazy activist or just a social media vulture misusing the 'cause'.

You took a prevalent contemporary western view as the only source of truth. So many times our views are sourced from BBC, CNN, WaPo and NYT. Even though we've seen such media companies have a colonialist bias that that borders on an unhealthy fascination to portray current Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the harbinger of fascism in India! Even Supreme Court of India had to come down on Washington Post as not a credible source for news report in one case. And their insistence to publish articles from likes of Rana Ayub or Barkha Dutt who have known anti-Modi bias. If your activism is based only on such sources without the need to delve into more local news then it is lazy activism. 

You didn't do even a cent of effort to explore the historical roots. All activism have a context or a central them that bubbled to the surface on the back of a contemporary event but more often than not it's foundations are rooted in history. However, if you didn't took the mandatory time to learn about the historical roots then that activism is similar to someone "pressing a like" on an picture in Facebook with the superficial belief that their part is done.

You didn't try to explore the 'other' side. It's very easy to say #freekashmir but if you ask these placard holders a fundamental question, freedom from what? The answer is just blurting out a social media narrative they are comfortable with. And they are either ignorant or even dangerous, willfully ignoring the 'other' side of the debate. If you didn't even dig deeper to expose yourself to the roots of a debate then you're in plain words a hypocritical idiot.

You were far too ready to push down the 'other' opinion in the buckets like deep state, conspiracy, fascism etc. It was easy for some of my "friends on Facebook" to tout pictures that ridiculed and name-called any supporters of BJP governments as 'Bhakts'. All along a section of media also kept blaring in their hoarse voice that this is the beginning of fascism in India! So the openness or even the basic courtesy to listen to the opinion that don't gel with yours is a sign you're a lazy activist and perhaps not worthy to be called one anyways. 

You were 'alright' to accommodate violent part of a protest as a 'middle finger' to the authority, thus justifying it as a necessary means. A far too many times the activism is intermingled with anarchy, a dangerous concoction. Any activism should be supported by legal and democratic ways of ushering a change. Otherwise that activism is just reduced to rioting, looting and hooliganism. If your idea of activism is supporting of violence then it's similar to teenager fantasizing about violence.

You're creating false equivalencies between unrelated causes. Is #FreeKashmir equivalent of #FightForHongKong? Or you pick up any other activism that are rooted in cultural and geopolitical identify; Manchuria, Baluchistan, Taiwan etc. Are these all on equal footing? If you explored the 'other' side, therein you will find the crux. Our world, although democratized by social media, is still struggling with stereotypes, biases and racism. It's very easy to tag something as 'brown', 'black' or 'white' to validate or invalidate its legitimacy. Unless you dared to look beneath the skin and tried to understand the cause, you're just fooling yourself and others.