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Dear Internets:
I am really, really tired of hearing people going around talking about how the planned LJ strike for tomorrow is useless and stupid and therefore nobody should bother taking part in it.
Yes! The number of people staying off LJ tomorrow won't be enough to make a noticable blip on LJ's radar, especially since most people don't post daily anyway, especially since it's a really bad day to schedule it, especially since Russia has different cultural ideas of how social action works, especially since LJ corporate doesn't actually look at daily usage stats in the first place.
But: The strike is accomplishing two things:
1) it is generating enough buzz to annoy SUP's leadership a great deal; and
2) it is getting people excited about working together to do something to make a difference in their world.
Those are both things that I support doing. I support 1) because I am spiteful enough that I like the idea of giving our corporate overlords a little bit more stress in their lives, and because getting attention (especially attention in tech-focused media) is the best way to amplify our voice. Making sure that the people in power don't forget how loud, and how persistent, that voice can be is the best way to convince them that they can't get away with this crap, now and in the future. The planned strike is *already* doing both of those things, as is apparent from the articles that are getting linked around. And putting our action in the form of a "content strike" is, I think, an excellent way of getting that attention, because it's an idiom that both calls back to familiar forms of social action, and calls forward to modern "web 4.0" rhetoric which talks about users as content providers as workers.
I support 2) because I believe that collective social action is the only method that has ever been shown to be effective in putting a check on people in power, and therefore collective social action, so long as it's not actively doing harm, ought to be encouraged. If for no other reason than that too many people have completely lost that spirit of activism that is what has made today's world as livable as it is, and growing that spirit wherever it arises can only encourage people to carry an activist energy out into all parts of their lives. And I, for one, believe that one thing that needs to change is making people willing to do something, collectively, when they're being screwed over by the powerful, instead of just knuckling under.
No, this probably isn't the most efficient or effective way to use the energy that's out there in fandom right now. But at least it's doing *something*. A postcard campaign might be the best way to talk to the Powers that Be, but if we want real, ongoing change, we need to do something that is also heard by *us*. The strike's doing that. What, exactly, is accomplished by telling everyone that they're powerless and useless instead?
That said, I can't participate because I haven't posted at lj since Strikethrough anyway. I do, however, plan to participate in the parallel initiative of "Post Something to Your IJ and/or JF account instead". It will probably be meta about grassroots internet activism and what it is, and what it isn't. 'Cause I've been thinking about that lately, for some reason.
Yes! The number of people staying off LJ tomorrow won't be enough to make a noticable blip on LJ's radar, especially since most people don't post daily anyway, especially since it's a really bad day to schedule it, especially since Russia has different cultural ideas of how social action works, especially since LJ corporate doesn't actually look at daily usage stats in the first place.
But: The strike is accomplishing two things:
1) it is generating enough buzz to annoy SUP's leadership a great deal; and
2) it is getting people excited about working together to do something to make a difference in their world.
Those are both things that I support doing. I support 1) because I am spiteful enough that I like the idea of giving our corporate overlords a little bit more stress in their lives, and because getting attention (especially attention in tech-focused media) is the best way to amplify our voice. Making sure that the people in power don't forget how loud, and how persistent, that voice can be is the best way to convince them that they can't get away with this crap, now and in the future. The planned strike is *already* doing both of those things, as is apparent from the articles that are getting linked around. And putting our action in the form of a "content strike" is, I think, an excellent way of getting that attention, because it's an idiom that both calls back to familiar forms of social action, and calls forward to modern "web 4.0" rhetoric which talks about users as content providers as workers.
I support 2) because I believe that collective social action is the only method that has ever been shown to be effective in putting a check on people in power, and therefore collective social action, so long as it's not actively doing harm, ought to be encouraged. If for no other reason than that too many people have completely lost that spirit of activism that is what has made today's world as livable as it is, and growing that spirit wherever it arises can only encourage people to carry an activist energy out into all parts of their lives. And I, for one, believe that one thing that needs to change is making people willing to do something, collectively, when they're being screwed over by the powerful, instead of just knuckling under.
No, this probably isn't the most efficient or effective way to use the energy that's out there in fandom right now. But at least it's doing *something*. A postcard campaign might be the best way to talk to the Powers that Be, but if we want real, ongoing change, we need to do something that is also heard by *us*. The strike's doing that. What, exactly, is accomplished by telling everyone that they're powerless and useless instead?
That said, I can't participate because I haven't posted at lj since Strikethrough anyway. I do, however, plan to participate in the parallel initiative of "Post Something to Your IJ and/or JF account instead". It will probably be meta about grassroots internet activism and what it is, and what it isn't. 'Cause I've been thinking about that lately, for some reason.
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