‘Stop bank from
foreclosing on disabled veteran’
That’s the first message title I see as I open up my inbox.
I open up the message and click on a link that sends me to an online petition
started on Change.org.
A web page opens up with all my pre-saved information and I
click on SIGN PETITION.
The whole process took about 30-45 seconds.
I just engaged in slacktivism.
This is a good or bad thing depending on who you talk to.
as to render resistance
or opposition
useless
Today: 27,000 die of
starvation. 3,000 from lack of clean
water. Thousands of Africans will contract HIV. 
Stateside millions are
unemployed, too poor to care for their families needs or will contract cancer
in the next year.
Workers Rights Abuse. Oppressive Dictators. Chemically Laced Food. And the
daily personal brokenness we encounter every day.
heap, treat,
or address
with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything
In the face of all the world’s
problems both globally and locally it is extremely easy to feel parylyzed.
In the last 7 years of my life I
have traveled to 32 different countries.I have encountered countless number of
injustices that I could worthily give my whole life to.
At times I have felt overwhelmed to the point of not knowing
what to do. Then subsequently not doing anything.
something in wild abandonment or do nothing so that I’m not a hyprocrite.
entry-level empathy and that’s simply not true” – Jedidiah Jenkins
Let’s return to the example I used at the beginning plucked
right from my real life inbox.
This particular petition put pressure on the bank to work
out a more affordable payment system for the family. And allowed them to keep the home.
The critics who have combined the word slacker and activism
into this new modern term say that online petition signing and sharing
links/videos through social media leads people to disengage from the real life
engagement necessary to bring justice to this world.
involvement needs to be balanced with our real world service.
I believe they can be synonymous and that one can lead to
the other.
I encourage you to not wait until you’re the perfect
activist right on the verge of major issue breakthrough.
Start small:
Sign some petitions. Share some videos. Tweet interesting articles and blogs.
Then start
finding ways to get involved in the flesh and blood of the world too.
Both
are needed to change the world.
There are a lot of good petition sites but one that I would
definitely recommend is Change.org
You might find some petitions you love, disagree with or
don’t care about but you will also find you are a part of some really cool
stuff happening.
Spend 30 seconds and click here to see: http://www.change.org/victories
you care about. An email will periodically go into your inbox highlighting a certain
cause.
“Slacktivism tends to bring forward such an
automatically negative connotation as a blanket descriptor over a host of
actions that could actually be quite meaningful. Justice begins with seeking
God first. And because justice is about responding to who God is and what God
longs for, every action we take, if done from the core of our formation in
Christ can bear great meaning – even the actions that seem the most
insignificant.” – Bethany Houang (Director at International Justice
Mission)
