In the age of slacktivism > Reposting things online does not make you an activist Jessica Berget Opinions Editor mere six years ago, a popular YouTube video ignited a spark that changed social media forever. Remember Kony 2012? Of course you do; how can anyone who lived through that forget it? It seems like only yesterday people were sharing, reposting, and hash-tagging about the Ugandan cult leader and his children soldiers. Kony 2012 was a revolution of our time—a social media revolution. #Kony2012 was the first activist trend I remember that swept over the World Wide Web. To 17-year-old me, it was the first time that everyone seemed to care about something bad that was happening on the other side of the world, and it snowballed into a social activist frenzy. Since then there have been numerous hashtags, profile pictures with flags over them, videos to share, location check-ins, and copy-and-paste Facebook statuses. It created the social justice hype to be with your friends and peers in sharing these social atrocities and attempting to do something about them. It created a generation of people who care about these sorts of things. Unfortunately, it has also created a culture of “slacktivists.” You probably can guess what that is by the name, but “slacktivism” is the term for actions performed via social media which support a political or social cause, but which take little time or involvement. It’s what compels so many people to add “activist *peace sign emoji*” to their Twitter bios, yet what annoys me so much about it is that most people dont really care about the cause, only their cause. I feel like most people post about social issues for their own recognition, or to bea part of it, and not for the actual problems. In the hype of Kony 2012, I was shamed for not taking part in the craze. It’s not that I didn’t care, I just didn’t feel like watching a half- hour-long video or making a status on Facebook about it. Back then it was cool to know who Kony was or what he did. It contributed to current online social justice culture. However, it also created a culture that shames people for not “caring” about these injustices. This is what makes slacktivism so prevalent. If you're not sharing or reposting some social issue, it’s assumed you don't care, or you're not “woke”. Many people jump on the bandwagon to keep with the trend. The funny thing is that most people post about these issues on their social media but speak nothing of them in real life, and that’s not activism. Making posts about social issues is a great way to raise awareness, but it’s superficial and can only achieve so much. There are more effective ways to bring about change: Educate yourself further about social inequalities, engage in conversations about it, listen to differing opinions, or volunteer. Ask yourself, are you posting this because you truly care, or because you don’t want to be left out? Don't force your political ideologies on your kids > Children are not your political pawns Janis McMath Contributor A few days ago, I had the isfortune of encountering a young kid wearing a shirt that read #FEMINIST. As a feminist myself, a child wearing that shirt bothers me. Let’s start with the fact that no child can truly understand politics. Comprehending politics requires a lot of history and context about society, culture, economics, and people. At an age where they are still only developing the fundamental skills, there is no way a kid could know enough to take an educated stance. For crying out loud, children are still learning empathy when they're young! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that children just start developing the capacity for empathy at the age of three and it takes many years to perfect it. How could a child possibly begin to understand feminism if they’re struggling with a concept as simple and fundamental as empathy? Secondly, forcing your children to propagate your political messages is exploitation. Using a child who cannot understand basic math to further your agenda and benefit your message is unfair to them. For example, often at pro-life rallies children will be made by their parents to wear pro-life messages. In Canada, it is more likely that a child will be pro-choice, considering the Ipsos poll measured 77 percent of Canadians being in favour of abortion in 2017. The same principle applies to the child’s feminism shirt—it’s unfair to force a kid to preach any ideology if they can’t understand it and may be against it eventually. There are no revolutionary activists that were “told” to be activists. It is a cliché recited time and time again in education, but it really is vital to teach kids “how to think rather than what to think” If you want your child to be a great critical thinker, you'll encourage them to come to their own conclusions rather than telling them to follow your conclusions. Critical thinkers need to be encouraged to argue, to be controversial, and to be wrong. I know that one of the reasons my own feminism is strong now is because | remember all the embarrassingly wrong misogynistic “facts” I used to state with confidence— and how stupid I feel for doing that. There is a lot of value in making your own mistakes. Critical thinkers also need to know that if their ideas are contrary to yours, you'll still support them. If a child feels like your love is conditional and depends on their political ideologies, they probably won't bother questioning anything. Consider the message that is coming across when you tell your child what to think: You are telling them that their obedience is more important than their agency. It is so cruel to value your child’s independent mind so little and your political ideology so much. Image via J.Crew website C C Let’s start with the fact that no child can truly understand politics.