Clicking Their Way to Outrage
July 6, 2014 1:09 PM Subscribe
On Social Media, Some Are Susceptible to Internet Outrage: "You needn’t Google far for recent case studies of Internet outrage. Log in to a social network and you’ll find it directed at celebrities and civilians alike. (See: Woody Allen, Stephen Colbert and Justine Sacco, the former communications director for IAC who posted an insensitive Twitter message about AIDS in Africa.)"
"Certainly, outrage can function as a corrective or anguished expression of helplessness, punishing the offending party if he, she or it has not been given any official penalty; think of George Zimmerman. Moreover, it can double as effective activism, forcing a response from the powers that be, as in the case of Ms. Sacco, whom IAC fired the day after her post went viral and who inspired someone to create a website with her name that redirects visitors to the nonprofit alliance Aid for Africa."
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"Ultimately, Internet outrage is the milquetoast cousin to direct action, a way to protest by tapping and clicking rather than boycotting and marching. It is a noble endeavor to become incensed about a cause and risk arrest or toil without acclamation for one’s deeply held beliefs. Less honorable is joining a digital pile-on as a means of propping up one’s ego, even if it comes in the form of entertaining zings."
"Certainly, outrage can function as a corrective or anguished expression of helplessness, punishing the offending party if he, she or it has not been given any official penalty; think of George Zimmerman. Moreover, it can double as effective activism, forcing a response from the powers that be, as in the case of Ms. Sacco, whom IAC fired the day after her post went viral and who inspired someone to create a website with her name that redirects visitors to the nonprofit alliance Aid for Africa."
...
"Ultimately, Internet outrage is the milquetoast cousin to direct action, a way to protest by tapping and clicking rather than boycotting and marching. It is a noble endeavor to become incensed about a cause and risk arrest or toil without acclamation for one’s deeply held beliefs. Less honorable is joining a digital pile-on as a means of propping up one’s ego, even if it comes in the form of entertaining zings."
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is a super thin and surface-y op-ed, sorry. -- restless_nomad
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posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 1:11 PM on July 6, 2014 [1 favorite]