Outcry
Feb08
on February 8, 2013
at 12:37 am
The idea for this comic had its origin during the current “outcry” debate on Twitter, surrounding sexism and what you can or can’t do against it.
It seems as if women, or lets say people in general, were a whole lot more eager and fierce to do something about an uncomfortable or unbearable situation they were in, as they are nowadays.
It’s so much easier to klick on something on Facebook or write a text on Twitter than to go out in the streets and actually do something about it, talk to people, try to change their minds.
What’s your take on this? Have you ever been to a rally or protest?
I think it is that in the past the Racism and Sexism were more pronounced. In those days people did not see the problem in doing those things.
But these days, we have reduced occurrences to where Racism and Sexism are much rarer. I did not say eliminated, but we are getting much better.
That is why there are almost no Women’s Rights or Civil Rights rallies these days. The government already supports them and have taken positive action.
A case in point of passivity would be Brown V. Topeka Board of Education. Not the Supreme court case version (that was actually 5 cases combined into one) but the original version that was heard in the lower courts. In 1950s Kansas, segregation was [u]Not[/u] the law of the land, but optional for cities, on the condition that both schools were given [u]equal[/u] funding. In most smaller towns, they did not care about segregation and were already integrated from the founding of their schools. I say all this because this next point is important.
When the NAACP came to help us end segregation, they had a hard time getting ANYONE to sponsor the petition. Even Black men did not want to sign it because, well why bother, they did not see any racism (by that days standards), the Black schools were just as nice as the white schools, the Teachers were paid equally. They did not see an issue.
Then who did sign? You might ask. The Black Women. See this was also the start of everyday women taking an active role in politics. They knew that even “Separate but Equal” was wrong. And if the men were too lazy, THEY would do it themselves.
So Brown V. Board got Women in Kansas more involved in politics.
Moral of this story, Most people will not take real action until the crime being committed gets really bad. Or they are exercising their rights for the first time.
Wow, that turned into another long-winded wall of text.
I think it’s a combination of things being better than they were and the fact that people don’t have to shout as loudly as they once did to inspire social change. Before the internet, you had to make the news to get the attention of people who were far away, and to get into the news, you had to do things that were really drastic. You had to stage rallies and marches and protests and do things that normal people would never do just to get people to notice you existed. These days, all you have to do to reach out people around the country and the world is turn on your computer. The downside to this, of course, is that crazy people ALSO have a sounding board for their “concerns”, and we end up with people who still want to argue that the president wasn’t born in this country, or that the earth is only 6,000 years old and dinosaur bones were put there by the Devil to deceive us.
Though the downside to the internet is that, with everyone speaking at once we see more of the extreme points of view. I must wonder if St. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been heard over the rumble of the Black Panthers trying to being about a violent revolt to the American Civil Rights movement.
With the internet, it is hard to see the people who are trying to bring good change, when they are forced to be so close to the crazy people too the Far-Left and Far-Right.
Though the other side of that I suppose would be in Egypt and Syria where the rebels and the civilians could use the internet to get word out about what was really happening there.
I guess I feel that the internet is one of those double-edged swords.
Case in point of someone using the internet to inspire social change: Mallala.
Where and what would you do if you went outside into the street? Legally, the rights are already there. What we’re just asking for is for people to be polite.
People are out there standing and protesting and knocking on legislator’s doors over the domestic violence bill (VAWA) in the US.
Hey guys, thanks for all the comments and the active discussion for this.
As this was just an example, it’s not just about women’s rights or equality but I see it as a general comment as we, especially a lot of people in the Western World, tend to just sit on our proverbial behinds and it’s much easier to just press a button instead of going outside into the street.
I know this is a crass generalization, as there are more than a few people out there fighting for something to happen or over bills or new laws.
I would go outside and protest for better schools AND better payment for teachers and more money for education, as I see this as a very important issue in our future.
Also, alternative energies/global warming etc as I think this is no laughing matter and government doesn’t take this issue seriously enough.
I participate regularly in protest with my union but I feel that political protest in America are useless at this time. The most accessible news media don’t cover protest unless it’s a conservative group like the Tea Party. When liberal groups take to the street their numbers are down played or they written off as thugs. The only real action we can take in the States is to call or email our representatives. It sad but they know Americans our placid sheep and any thing that can motivate us to pick up a phone or click automated email link spells trouble for them.