Rahaf Harfoush once said: ‘we
are struggling because even
though – rationally – we know
that we’re never going to reach
the end... Eventually you start
hearing the same piece of sad
news over and over and it loses
its ability to pull you, and that
is really dangerous.’
We’re outrage fatigued
and also feeling a looming
compassion fatigue, as our
tolerance for shit grows and
we feel less need to help.ENTER SLACKTIVISM
Cast your mind back to 2014
when our news feed was filled
with friends pouring eskies of
ice over themselves in the name
of charity. The ALS Ice Bucket
Challenge raised $115m for
ALS sufferers and has meant
they’ve been able to purchase
advancements in medical
technology. But the whole
donation part – the point
of it all – seemed to be a
postscript for most, who
seemed to be jumping
on the bandwagon
and simply
annoying their
friends. We
shouldn’t
diminish the
conversation
it started and
the lengths it made
for ALS sufferers, but at
times it did encourage a sense
of ‘slacktivism’.
Social media is the best
friend and worst enemy of
fatigue. It starts conversation,
but on the f lip side it creates a
new breed of lazy that believes
a Facebook share is going to
change the world. Outrage isn’t
persuading us to do anything
further, because we just DGAF
after we see something more
than once. ‘The online world
is an attention economy –there is so much competition,’
Brewer says. ‘One question is
if the way we communicate
online is the best way to have
the important conversations.’
The f lip side of all this is
that globalisation has made
us want to care more, and you
could argue social media allows
us to do that – even if it seems
we’ve shifted our goal posts
in thinking less action equals
the same change. On the whole,
though, it’s meant that we can
signal our values, as that’s how
we form our identities andengage the social capital we
need to be included in our
communities.
‘It’s the degree to which
we actually “help” the issue
that is contested,’ says Brewer.
‘We might want to help but
not feel like we have the skills
to make a difference – it can be
overwhelming to know where
to start.’SO, WHAT CAN WE DO?
We’ve never cared and never
not cared as much as we do
now. It’s a weird millennial
contradiction. But the aspects
of social media that were once
killing historical forms of
activism – marching, public
speaking, protests and strikes- seem to be coming back this
year in a bigger way as we f lex
our democratic biceps, Rosie
the Riveter-style. Is this only
because we can see issues more
prominently on our news feed
and, thus, be held accountable?
Or is it just that we’ve grown
up and want to show we care
more than clicking?
To avoid outrage fatigue,
people power is where it’s at,
people. Ignore the cut-and-
paste nothingness of a social
media post. Log out. Petition
hard; march strong. The main
point in this fight against
outrage is that we can’t, even
at times we most want to, be
fatigued. Tired gets nothing
done in the business of change.
‘If it’s just outrage and
keyboard warriordom without
the actions, then that is not
helpful for our sense of well-
being,’ explains Brewer. ‘The
challenge is for the causes to
come up with meaningful real-
life actions for people to take,’
she says. ‘It doesn’t have to
be a big action or have huge
impact – but it does need to
extend to something beyond
a simple “click”.’ #Sorry but you
can’t smash
the patriarchy
through your
keyboard.ISTOCK
COSMOPOLITAN June 2017 99
cosmo zeitgeist