A recent meme on the internet has a caption that says, "I support the current thing." It mocks those who posted a hashtag on Twitter with #metoo, posted a black square on Instagram during 2020, uploaded a Ukrainian flag in March of 2022 onto Facebook, or have their pronouns on their Linkedin profile (or everywhere else) today. Should I assume that people who have done any or all of the above genuinely support the causes they supposedly advocate online, or are they doing it for validation? Are people who 'support the current thing' intent on driving progress and making positive changes in the world?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but there may be a lot of social pressure to seem supportive online, even if many don't entirely agree with or feel passionate about the issue they are posting about. These people might be influenced by the views of their friends or peers, or they might feel like they need to conform to a particular ideology or way of thinking.
When I interacted with people over the past few years on hot topics, something I choose not to do anymore, I noticed people didn't fully understand the issue they posted about. They didn't appear to have the necessary information to make an informed decision about their statement. They might say they support something online because they feel like it's the "right" thing to do. It seems easier to put up a post because others are doing it due to pressure to look understanding.
Photo by Mike Von on Unsplash
When people start participating in events like attending rallies, protests, or other events related to 'the current thing' it can help to show support and solidarity. It also provides an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals and participate in a movement, but I sense inconvenience or apathy when things get tough or last longer than expected. These hashtag warriors might not want to support the more difficult struggles in real life. They know their 'support' doesn't make a difference, so they express support online but don't take any further action.
What truly matters is donating time or money to organizations or causes that align with your values. Ultimately, supporting the current thing requires committing to positive change, taking action, and actively participating.
Does supporting the current thing by posting online make a long-term difference?
Clayton is the founder and publisher of the social and political commentary newsletter Think Things Through and the host of the Think Things Through Podcast.
99% virtue signaling. Every fucking yard up here in lilywhite Cape Ann has signs praising BLM. Meanwhile not one single one of these champagne libs have ever been to Harlem, Compton, Detroit or Dorchester, and would shit their pants if they had to do business there.
For my own part, I support what I regard as two fundamental human liberties which pre-date the very concept of the formal state: freedom from debt, and freedom from surveillance. Which stance has for a lifetime placed me utterly at odds with the very notion of the taxing of personal incomes, which now stands as the only acceptable measure of what makes a person have a right to exist, according to the state.
The way my mind and worldview work, the idea that a person is permanently in debt, both to the state and to commercial interests, and thereby under permanent surveillance by both, has always made 'the American Way' appear to me as an exercise in continual self-deception: owing money to and being continually monitored by forces and factions which maintain permanent powers over one's life is not 'freedom', it is indeed the very antithesis of freedom. And if I cannot live and work and interact without being both continually in debt and continually under surveillance, I am therefore not free.
I support freedom. Not a shackled status of counterfeit freedom rented to me by the state on its terms, nor one of credit-leveraged consumer comfort sold to me by a commercial economy. Anyone who cares to can ask me what this unrelenting position and demand has cost me. I assure you, it has involved a good deal more than posting hashtags.