I’d like to start this off with a
bit of truth (albeit somewhat crassly put).
I’ve censored and paraphrased this quote as the original is
attributed to someone from the US Special Forces community and not a Sunday
School Teacher. Here it is:
“Hashtags,
like buttons, and retweets aren’t going to do @#%$ to get those missing
Nigerian girls back. It’s just a way for lazy westerners to feel good about
themselves without having to sacrifice any of their time, money, or physical
safety. This internet heroism is as fake as Chaz Bono’s *^$#. Dudes with guns
started this mess. Dudes with guns are going to end it.”
In our western world of celeb
worship, we forget that the rest of the world (terrorists in particular) don't really
care about sad duck-faces and Hashtag Diplomacy. Over here a trending topic can
get you fired and publically shamed for life. In Africa they use AK47s for
firings, and machetes for public shaming. Such is the case with Boko Haram. The mere
name of this terror group indicates their cause, as the BBC reports that the
group “promotes a version of Islam which makes it 'haram', or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or
social activity associated with Western society.” If this group militantly
hates western influence on these girls, how are they going to feel about a
jet-setting 1%er like the First Lady with a hashtag? This group hates the idea
of western education. Are they suddenly intimidated by western entertainment
and pop culture? Not likely.
If anything, this campaign of
internet heroism may serve opposite the purposes of its participants. The Boko
Haram group is vehemently anti-western—so if the West disapproves of their
actions, they have succeeded. In fact, the publicity is likely welcome for
them: the purist group that defied the west and showed the world that they
could do whatever they wanted with no more resistance than a formidable twitter
campaign. Their name is getting repeated over, and over again. Boko Haram. The
little Islamists that could. Every outraged cry against them is a mark of approval in their minds. Peer pressure sucks, and it sucks more against an assault rifle.
“Well,” some might say, “It’s to
raise awareness.” Ok. Awareness is cool. But let’s take a trip back in time…to
the year 2012. And let’s take a look at a trending topic that might be slightly
embarrassing. I’m talking of course about the Invisible Children Project. You
might better know it as a 29-minute video called KONY 2012.
Joseph Kony
is a cult leader, warlord, and human rights violator in Africa. His big claim
to fame is of course the child-soldiers phenomena, which he propagated till the
child combatants numbered in the tens of thousands. Kony found himself targeted
by western Hashtag Diplomacy in 2012 when the KONY 2012 video was released. The
video garnered 99 million views. The Invisible Children project reportedly raised
over $8 million dollars. What happened? Exactly nothing. Today Kony is as free
today as he was back then. He is supposedly considering surrendering to face the ICC and a
host of other consequences. Why? Because of a few million hashtags? Because of
vast financial resources marshaled against him? Because of international
pressure? No. Because he’s reported to be “in poor health”, he’s 52 now, and
he’s tired to being sick out in the jungle and on the run. So what did 99
million views and millions of dollars raised actually buy? Perhaps nothing more
than to serve as salve for guilty consciences.
The tragedy
of these girls isn’t that this is a first time event. Islamic militants
actively use kidnappings and much worse to advance their agenda—and on a weekly
basis. The tragedy here is that this is what we’ve been reduced to. Hashtags.
Videos. Trending topics, tweets, glib demagoguery, and little else. And
somehow, we’re “helping.” The opening quote comes to mind again: “It’s just a
way for lazy westerners to feel good about themselves without having to
sacrifice any of their time, money, or physical safety.” This is our tragedy:
not that such events happened on our watch, but that internet heroism and
hashtag diplomacy was the best response we could come up with, and worse, that
we thought much of ourselves for our “bravery”. How grateful we are that such “bravery”
costs us nothing more than 30 seconds and 140 characters. Tragic, isn’t it?
