In part, slacktivism is what happens when the energy of otherwise dedicated activists is wasted on approaches that are less effective than the alternatives.
Interpretation
Slacktivism refers to ineffective activism that drains energy from meaningful efforts.
The quote highlights the phenomenon of slacktivism, where individuals engage in minimal effort actions or online activism that do not lead to significant change. While these efforts may stem from a place of good intention and dedication, they can ultimately distract and detract from more impactful actions that could yield real results in social or political causes.
In practice
In a speech about social media activism, one could cite this quote to emphasize the need for impactful actions.
Just as Josef K, the protagonist of Kafka's 'The Trial,' awoke one day to discover that he had become part of some unfathomable legal carnival, we, too are frequently waking to discover that the rules of the digital game have once again profoundly changed.
Technological defeatism - a belief that, since a given technology is here to stay, there's nothing we can do about it other than get on with it and simply adjust our norms - is a persistent feature of social thought about technology. We'll come to pay for it very dearly.
For many oppositional movements, the Internet, while providing the opportunity to distribute information more quickly and cheaper, may have actually made their struggle more difficult in the long run.
I have no problem with technological solutions to social problems. The key question for me is, 'Who gets to implement them?' and, 'What kinds of politics of reform do technological solutions smuggle through the back door?'
The newspaper offers something very different from Google's aggregators. It offers a value system, an idea of what matters in the world. Newspapers need to start articulating that value.
Social media's greatest assets - anonymity, 'virality,' interconnectedness - are also its main weaknesses.
Quite apart from anything else, my experience is trying to change things for the better makes you feel better, healthier. Humans are communicative animals: when you do good in a community, the benefits eventually get back to you.
The one ironclad rule is that I have to try. I have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning
Many discouraging hours will arise before the rainbow of accomplished goals will appear on the horizon.
Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.
What if you, too, were to greet every interaction in your life with the question 'What's the potential opportunity that this is?'
It is not your aptitude, but your attitude, that determines your altitude.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.