This year, 2020, has been a roller coaster of a year. In my 23 years of life never have I seen such a crazy year. I think people will be talking about all the many things that happened this year and i’m sure one of the important ones will be about the protest happening during the pandemic. Essentially people were putting their lives at risk from either catching the virus or being involved in violence during protests. They did that because they wanted to fight to make sure people got justice for being racially oppressed. From the protest, we got a lot of information in the form of videos and pictures.
Because of the virus, many people stayed home but could still see a lot of what was happening at the protests. I think in a way we have social media and internet activism to thank for that. If it weren’t for these things we wouldn’t get the perspective of the side that most of us think is right. Sure, we get some footage from the media, but the ones posted by the people often catch more of what’s happening. Often the people at the protest catch everything happening in real time and it allows other people to see what’s happening. I think this was instrumental in the protest over the summer where a lot of footage was put out there which essentially was used as proof of how some of the police were biased and how they treated the situation and protestors. I question if the protestors did not have the ability to capture what’s happening in real time for people to watch, would the news even talk about it. An example that comes to mind is during the summer, two incidents captured by protestors were trending all over twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. One was one a police van driving through protestors, and the other of an older man who got injured when he got shoved by a police officer.
One thing I also learned during the protest is how instrumental social media and internet platforms are for spreading information. With people having no one to answer about posting or releasing content, it’s so much easier to put things out there for others to see. I would ask myself if this kept going on, would the government or some higher power try to block social media and platforms to stop us from watching or posting things that they might not like us to see. When I read about the Cute Cat Theory, I understood why they couldn’t do that. I think it was smart for protestors to use these platforms not just to get the word out but in a strategic sense if the platform they are on is a also a platform for all sorts of interest then the higher power would not be able to block websites or apps because those who initially were not involved will be involved, and with a huge upset crowd, it just doesn’t seem worth it.
I think living in this moment when social justice is being demanded and the people are willing to protest is very important to seeing how things are really like. Perhaps people will be “woke” and hopefully someday we will see progress and justice. I believe digital activists have definitely made more people aware even if they don’t know it. What contributions do you think Digital activism has contributed to social justice?
Credible News of the week:
SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIETY 
I think digital activism has helped people to be able to organize and feel connected to social justice groups. It has also like you said, allowed the public ‘to see real pictures and footage’ uncensored and to be able to decide for themselves how they feel. Through social media people can post and comment about blog about these issues and in a way get a discussion going. I think it helps us feel like we are a part of something, but i also feel like it can just be all talk. I think that meeting up and organizing is an important part of activism. It is not easy to commit to and sometimes hashtags and digital activism can lack the power to invoke change. I think digital activism is certainly relevant and important and definitely here to stay; I just think that we have to continue to have peaceful protests as well.
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I really like what you said about social media being helpful today and perspective. I completely agree with you when you say that a lot of u would have gotten the virus if it wasn’t for social media spreading the news and letting people know that the thing is like really happening and we should take precautions. And I really like that we have social media for these purposes. I do think that the way it was back then Is important too. Like meeting up as a group of people and actually talking about a topic or issue. I also like the old way too.
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Those two pictures you posted of police brutality during protests just reminded me that people who are in power tend to abuse it and unfortunately leave multiple people injured. I believe that digital activism has contributed to social justice just by the spread of the media such as those screenshots of the videos you posted. That spread of awareness that it can happen to anyone is alarming and gets the word out. However, I don’t believe there is much justice going on when posting. People post, react and go on with their lives. I’m not sure when that turning point would be when the government starts putting people who have “power” positions in their places such as punishments and accurate longer trainings to be qualified for such positions.
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