Imagine how many more of us there would be if we moved beyond the like button
Of late it seems like people have found a new manner of trying to highlight issues. Social media is turning into a tool for social activism and the average Joe is turning into a self-proclaimed social media pundit. The digital realm allows us all to have opinions and express them simultaneously, regardless of how flawed and inaccurate they are. Whenever injustice takes place in our part of the world, our social media activists take the stage to right all the wrongs. The problem is, while social media doesn’t highlight a lot of issues, it cannot push for a favourable outcome to any of those issues. And while the situation in terms of social media is different the world over, in Pakistan the situation is at best bleak.
There seems to be something of a trend going around where each lost person, lost cause and lost ideal has been propped up for display on the social media jungle. All you need is a Facebook page and a similarly appropriate Twitter handle, and you’re all set for making a difference. From Malala to the floods, there’s a page for just about everything. If social media was to be believed then people who have more likes on their page are all set to move towards justice – except that that’s not really true.
Social media cannot do for Pakistan what it did for the Arab Spring, primarily because our people stand divided on almost every issue we can conjure up. From racism to sexism to a plethora of other -isms, our propensity for conflict rages forward with each like and comment that we make. The opinions on social media diverge and deviate to a large extent from one another; however, in the grand scheme of things we have to be realistic and wonder whether those opinions can be generalised to the larger population of Pakistan. Can 5,000 likes on a picture really represent the thoughts of the entire nation? The thoughts of a province? Even a city? The answer is actually a very disheartening no.
Take for example our most recent obsession; it seems that a hand print, fashioned as the Pakistani flag, has been making rounds as people’s display picture. It sends a simple message: I stand with minorities. And a majority of the Pakistani populace on Facebook seems to do just that: stand with minorities. But a majority of the actual Pakistani populace doesn’t seem to give minorities a second glance. So when someone says that social media is about to add fuel to the fire of social change, one can’t help but wonder what fuel they’ve been consuming.
Remember the time the Hazaras took to the streets with the coffins of their dead? People in Karachi sat on roads to protest, just as people did in Islamabad. But no one in Sialkot cared, and we heard no similar responses from Kot Lakhpat. The media rallied alongside the groups of people supporting the Hazaras, while our authorities were nowhere to be found – perhaps they’re not as social media savvy as the rest. And that’s just one example of social media succeeding to raise voice for an issue, but failed to create a substantial change. The Hazaras continue to die, so it can verily be argued that Pakistan does not stand with its minorities, irrespective of what Pakistani display pictures will tell you.
A brilliant example of how lost we are as a people is Malala. While the world applauds her efforts we can’t stop bickering over whether or not it was a conspiracy theory to begin with. When the Malala shooting first happened it took only a day or two for the conspiracy theories to start. One could argue that if Malala and her friends had been as vigilant on social media networks as many others then those rumors could’ve been laid to rest a lot faster. But Malala wasn’t lucky enough to run her own social media campaign. What we need is for people to be able to induce some kind of empathy through their social media actions, then and only then will it result in any form of change. And we have a long way to go as a nation who doesn’t understand the meaning of empathy.
We all take to social media to express our disgust and stomp around like angry little children. Social media has a long way to go before it can change anything in Pakistan. Putting up a display picture or a status will not bring about change. Perhaps we need more of the people who took to the streets at the same time as the Hazaras did with their coffins. Imagine how many more of us there would be if we moved beyond the like button.
The writer is a journalist based in Lahore. She can be emailed at [email protected]. She tweets @luavut
Cange takes place inside the individual regardless of how, or if, you express it. You can't stop life for every unresolved issue or you would live in the streets protesting while your national infrastructure deteriorates and becomes worse than it is. You need to be able to work through issues and misunderstandings while maintaining. There are always going to be people who disagree with good policy and sound advice. When you take to the streets I would say that is more a representation of "stomp around like angry children".
Malala is a fake story, image and character
Comments are closed.