Tuesday 21 December 2010

this matters

it's late & i should be getting to bed, but i had to share this - which no doubt many of you will have read already. it's sady doyle writing about her twitter campaign against mike moore (& keith olbermann). if you want some background about it, her earlier post here is probably the best one to read.

on my own blog, i wrote a while back on the concept of slactivism, basically a concept coined to cover those who do their activism through the click of a mouse or pressing a few buttons on their favourite technology & not much more. this is considered a bad thing because the mouse click is in lieu of more concrete actions in the "real" world that would make a difference.

but here is sady making a massive difference, fighting the good fight purely from her phone & her keyboard, and it matters. here she is, challenging all those myths about rape and rape victims, to the utmost of her ability, and of course it matters.

i'm in awe of her determination and courage, of her strength and her ability to draw support from a range of people. of her ability to withstand the kind of harassment that would have me struggling to rise above it.

please go over and read the whole post. and if you feel able, take part in the protest as this comment from one of the authors suggests:

Tweet messages to @MMFlint (This is Michael Moore’s Twitter account) and @KeithOlbermann with the hashtag #MooreandMe. Have a conversation with them. Tell them that publicizing the names of women accusing a powerful man of rape was wrong. Remind them that these women are now receiving death threats, that they are now in jeopardy because of Assange’s supporters. Ask them to apologize, to speak to us, to acknowledge that we even exist. Remind them of the many times they have asked us to stand up to the powerful in the name of people who could not defend themselves. Ask them to donate to a charity that helps rape victims in crisis. Donate if you can and encourage others to do the same.

2 comments:

Amanda said...

This protest is now in part resolved because Moore went on The Rachel Maddow Show, and addressed the concerns of taking rape victims seriously. While he didn't issue an apology, he has contacted Sady (see her latest post) and noted her protest made a difference.

Rachel Maddow was a great ally, and she used the language to challenge Moore on the show that had been used in the protest. There's a lot of love for her right now.

While Olbermann hasn't made an apology, he has been changing the language he's using surrounding the story. Which is a start.

As Sady says, 'the mountain has moved 3 inches".

stargazer said...

thanx amanda. i watched the maddow interview online last night, and felt like cheering. although as people were saying on twitter, it's sad that we have to cheer for what should be the standard position, especially for someone who counts himself as a progressive. still, this really feels like a win, and shows the power of online activism.

also an excellent post to read on the latter point is this one. great analysis.