Gary Barnett's Blog

I’ve been worrying all week-end about “Green Avatar Syndrome”, the state of activism and the relevance of twitter.

This going to be a longish post, so here’s the abstract:

• I’ve no objection if you want to turn your avatar green..
• Turning your avatar green absolutely does NOT make you an activist
• There are simple things you can do to offer meaningful support to the people of Iran
• There is enormous value in Twitter as a means for sharing ideas, but those ideas only have real value when they break out of twitter into the real world
• You need to be careful about the value of twitter as a source of news and an channel for change
• What have you done Mr Holier than thou??

I’ve no objection if you want to turn your avatar green
Not that you’re likely to be all that worried about what I think – But I’ll say it anyway, if you want to make a little gesture in support of the Iranian people, go right ahead.

Hell… here’s a link with instructions – Green Link Instructions

Having said “go right ahead”, I’ll confess that it does irritate me slightly when I see people making gestures like this more so that they can be seen by their friends to be making the gesture rather than out of a sincere desire to support the cause.

How can you tell whether you’re just posing?
Well..

• Do you know the name of the Ayatolla in Iran?
• Do you know the name of the current President of Iran
• Do you know the name of the main opposition leader?

If you don’t know the answer to these questions… then the chances are you’re just a poseur.

So… go on, fill your boots – green up your avatar, but before you do though – I hope you read the rest of this post…

Turning your avatar green absolutely does NOT make you an activist

Think about it…. what impact will your turning your avatar green actually have?

You’ve spent a couple of minutes greening your avatar, what do you get out of it…

Are you changing Iran? Sorry, but you’re not.

Are you showing solidarity with the people of Iran? Sort of… although “Gestures of Solidarity” traditionally require somewhat more than sitting on your behind and waving your mouse around a couple of times.

The greenness of your avatar will have roughly 0 (Zero, Nada, None whatsoever) impact on Iran. The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei isn’t pacing up and down worrying about green twitter avatars.

Pointless gestures do not equate to activism.

Put another way… imagine a scale of 1 to 1000… where 1 is doing absolutely nothing, and 1000 is “shedding your blood for your cause”.

Turning your avatar green is a 2.

So please… Green up your avatar… but don’t fall into the delusion that you’ve actually done something meaningful.

There are simple things you can do to offer meaningful support to the people of Iran

Now, if you want to do something a little more meaningful, then write to your local representative… if doesn’t need to be a manifesto – Just let your local MP/Congressman know that you’re concerned and that you’d like to know that they’re doing about it..

If you’re in the USA, here’s a website where you can get the contact info for your Congressman – Click here to contact your congressman

If you’re in the UK you can use this link – Click here to email your MP

You’re still not an activist when you’ve done this, but at least your activism score out of 1000 will have made it into double digits (ie 10).

How about going one step further… donate an hour of your time to the cause either in real “time” or in cash… You could make a donation to Amnesty for example.. Click here to donate to Amnesty

I reckon this is where your gesture starts being meaningful – being willing to give an hour of your time to something really does imply commitment.. Let’s say it gets you to 20 on the scale of 0 to 1000.
You don’t have to just donate cash – Some people have been actively engaging in debate and discussion on the topic – both within the twitter- verse  and outside it, these people are giving something to the cause – and while some of it falls into the category of “well meaning but not really helping”, these people are doing a great job of raising awareness.
There is enormous value in Twitter as a means for sharing ideas, but those ideas only have real value when they break out of twitter into the real world

I make this point because one of the things that bothers me most about  twitter is the belief that twitter is in-and-of-itself an influential medium… As twitterers we need to dilute the koolaid… Twitter is an enormously useful tool… but unless we take the ideas we discover and the things we learn out in to the real world then it’s all just self congratulatory nonsense.

Most people don’t give a flying fig for what goes on in twitter. Twitter is a shockingly unrepresentative source of opinion. Its influence will grow, I am sure – but I’d urge you not to fall into the fallacy of believing that twitter itself is capable of changing the world. You need to do something… something real if you want the world to change.

I’ve had a few discussions recently about the decadence/laziness of the west vs the east. And there are aspects to Green Avatar Syndrome that ring alarm bells. Our grand-parents and parents changed the world – they did it by marching for freedom, by fighting to liberate europe – This is activism, this is action. I worry that our generation is too smug and privileged to appreciate that some genuine effort is required if you want to change the world… and I worry that we’re going to suffer for our decadence.

One quote from one of the blog posts I reference below makes the point -

“This is a quintessentially postmodern experience.”
corilyn.shropshire@chron.com

Yes, this could indeed be a “quintessentially postmodern experience” – But if it is, then one conclusion might be that western civilisation is going to hell in a handbasket.

You need to be careful about the value of twitter as a source of news and a channel for change
Another thing that has alarmed me, is the faith people appear to have in twitter as a source of news. Twitter is a shockingly bad source of news… unless you know the person who is telling you what’s happening, you can’t really have any clue as to whether they’re being truthful – or indeed whether they’re even on the same continent as the event that they claim to be describing. First rule of research… understand the source.

So all I’m really asking is that you moderate your enthusiasm for twitter’s “social power” – And be careful when you pick up on a trend or (to use a horrid word) “meme”.

What have you done mr “holier than thou?”

Fair question. I’ve done the following..

1. I’ve written (old stylee on paper and everything) to my Member of Parliament
2. I’ve emailed the Foreign Office
3. I’ve made a small donation to Amnesty

I will not be greening my avatar.

And as for the “holier than Thou…” – No, I don’t feel particularly “holier” than anyone else – But I do think I’ve made a greater contribution than I would have done if I’d just opted to change the colour of my avatar.

Some (mildly) useful links.

Here are some links to blog entries that I perused when writing these, I don’t pretend that these are representative (and I certainly don’t agree with all of them) but you might find them interesting -

The BBC News – One of the best sources I know. Where grown up journalists filter out the nonsense for me.

Going green only proves I know how to click a link – A thoughtful post on the topic

Number 10 – E-Petition Site – Fewer than 100 people (when I last checked) had signed any of the Iran-election related e-petitions
Show Support For #iranelection By Adding Green Overlay To Your Twitter Avatar – Pathetically naive, post opens with “twitter has proved its power once again”, bless.

Freedom in Iran one Avatar at a time – Decent post

Your green twitter is helping iran: now so what? – Nice sarcastic post

dViva La Twitter Revolution from our armchairs – Another reasoned post

http://blog.arpitnext.com/2009/06/support-iran-election-by-adding-green-overlay-to-twitter-avatar.html

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