We record think pieces from the comfort of our warm beds, becoming hypocrites when we chide others for not doing something about the things we claim to care about.
That is not to say that spreading awareness isn’t beneficial, but when we simply repeat the words of others to signal that we are morally correct and positioning ourselves above others, we begin to lose sight of the actual causes we are fighting for. Sure, social media is the fastest way to get information around due to the algorithms and interactions with videos determining who gets to see what. This scope of social media has allowed many to see things nationally and globally they otherwise would not through other forms of media.
It is this scope and speed that also causes laziness. Because social media dishes out what we want to see or hear and elevates people we begin to pedestalize, we avoid any personal responsibility. The idea that someone with a big platform has to speak about any current event that arises often waters down these issues. We are becoming more comfortable with not having control.
This isn’t to say that there aren’t people taking action, it is that the actions themselves have changed. Movements no longer have a face, nor a single chosen leader, but in a rather decentralized manner. Many people’s chosen action is awareness, but simply having thoughts about an issue is not enough.
Social media and convenience are making us less likely to react to things as we believe that someone else might make the changes necessary. We believe all we are capable of doing is complaining and hoping that someone else will do something about it. So to avoid conflict or questions about why we aren’t doing anything, we post from the comfort of our own beds, ranting about others, not doing anything, and claiming that nobody seems to care.
It is more convenient to blame others than to get at the root of the issues by focusing on the institutions responsible. It is easier to yell at others to educate themselves than to do the more grueling task of resisting. Despite an influx of information about smaller ways to resist, such as which companies to divest from, comfort and convenience is why many find it “too difficult” to commit to resistance.
The comfort we refuse to let go of in fear that we may tip the scale a little too much and that we might have to lose the comfort we have in order to make actual progress. This is especially true for people who do not care about certain issues until they show up at their front door. More specifically, the result of white people wanting to keep the peace in regards to systematic injustices is Black and Brown people paying the price for white comfort. It also shows through the way people of color are shown as collateral damage, where you may not hear about the murder or attack on a Black or Brown person until a white person too is persecuted. This is all too evident in the uproar surrounding ICE’s misconduct, even though stop and frisk laws targeted Black people for years. Even now, Renee Good seems to be the last straw for people in regards to ICE.
Right now, many are just trying to get through: pay the bills, go to school, keep the job. However it is more important now to do the smaller things, because they add up.
Until then, we continue to trade progress for comfort.
