In today's post I will be discussing how social media has changed how movements are started, how things are documented, and edited to fit an agenda.
How has social media played a role in the 2020 civil rights movement and protests?
Social media has allowed for the ability to be able to share a video such as the murder of George Floyd filmed by a 17 year old who posted it to social media. This video went viral over instagram and other social media platforms with in a day almost everyone who was on social media in the U.S. knew of the George Floyd case. Here is an article about the woman who filmed the murder its self and her take on what was going through her mind when she was filming it and what happened to her after she filmed it. This post forced social media users to make an opinion about the injustices within society and also allowed them to post about the black lives matter movement there were organized social media protests for example posting a picture of a black image and hashtagging it black lives matter. There were also posts about walk outs and marches that spread through the nation faster than any breaking news announcement. Social media has allowed for faster accessibility to information and action on injustices the civil rights movement was the beginning of how social media can be effective in obtaining justice.
How is social media changing the way we document history?
Social media has allowed for more of video and photo documentation rather than written documentation. In this way it could be a little bit more accurate because it is hard to put your bias on a video. Which can allow people who study history in the future to create their own opinions about history and not be influenced by the writers or publisher's bias.
Give and example of how social media has been used in a positive or negative way.
Social media has allowed people to post their opinions on their profile or anyone else's platform. This can be effective in creating respectful discussions or creating awareness but most times it turns into abrasive and cruel comments always focused on completely shutting down the person who posted their belief or said something in a video that viewers do not agree with. Rather than explaining why they disagree or providing facts against the statement they just say cruel things that puts the person down. An example is the recent JK Rowling backlash on what she said what she believed about the LGTBQ+. I am not here to state my opinion on what she had to say but just to point out what happened from an outside third party perspective with no bias in the matter. For a while gender equality movements as well as the LGTBQ+ rights movements have been blossoming and apart of many social media, political, and social debates. JK Rowling posted a comment that was true to what she felt and to what she believed. Here is an article that breaks down what happened and what was said in some of the comments. There was some comments that shared their disagreements respectfully and aimed to bring awareness to the other side of the controversy. but most of the comments were directly attacking her and her success. The down fall of social media is that many people get so comfortable with tearing down a username and they do not remember that they are actually tearing down the person who owns that user name. This creates an immature, hateful, negative, and degrading environment that is only driven to finding who is right and who is wrong. Over social media there is never a grey space or an agree to disagree argument it is always who is right and who is wrong and the person who is wrong gets publicly humiliated, ruined, and chastised for a sentence that they said.
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