The power of ‘slacktivism’

Have you received an earnest e-mail from a friend or colleague lately, with some impassioned call to action, and a request to sign the bottom and e-mail the e-petition on to all your other e-friends? Perhaps the message had to do with the impending destruction of the NEA, NPR, CPB, or other public cultural agency. Perhaps it shared the story of a young cancer victim in England, hoping to gather enough greeting cards to break a world record.

This is the powerful impulse of ‘slacktivism,’ an on-line trend that combines our internal need to make a difference with the personal inertia that keeps us from actually making an effort. According to this article on the subject:

Slacktivism, the phrase itself a rather lazy haemorrhaging of the two words slacker and activism, is the counter-intuitive idea that you can somehow change the world and topple its complacent political classes without even rising from your chair.

Problem is, the effort required to forward an e-petition is about equal to its effectiveness in influencing public policy, philanthropy, and social causes (ie, zero). According to this diatribe on e-mail slactivism, even the most well-thought-out and directed effort would have no impact whatsoever:

Those in a position to influence anything…accord e-petitions only slightly more respect than they would a blank sheet of paper. Thus, even the best written, properly addressed, and lovingly delivered e-petitions whose every signature was scrupulously vetted by the petition’s creator fall into the same vortex of disbelief at the receiving end that less carefully shepherded missives find themselves relegated to.

So where’s the harm? It only takes a few seconds, and it doesn’t generate any excess landfill waste. Well, just consider the cumulative power of those few seconds, multiplied by a million. Then consider the loss of personal momentum when you’ve forwarded such a message, and figure you’ve done your good deed for the day. Finally, consider the fact that many such messages are out of date, out of touch, or just plain wrong.

For example, consider the story of that young cancer victim collecting greeting cards. Yes, there was and is a Craig Shergold. And yes, he did have a brain tumor at age 9. And yes, an actual plea was sent out in 1989 for greeting cards. And yes, he made the world record books by 1991. Problem is, the e-mail didn’t stop circulating, and the cards didn’t stop coming (and thanks to a revised version of the e-mail, business cards started coming, as well). Now cancer-free and 26 years old, Craig Shergold is still beseiged by mailings from around the world, and frankly wishes they would stop (so does the Make-a-Wish Foundation).

Imagine if even a fraction of that collective energy (and postage) was directed toward a cause that still existed.