The Art of Performative Activism And The Threat It Poses To Social Movements
On social media, and in real life, everything seems to be a competition of who can be the “woke-est.” So many young people share articles, infographics, and designs relating to new terminology, what is politically correct and what isn’t, and which celebrity is being canceled on that day. So many people seem to post about supporting social movements, but how many of these people are taking real actions in their everyday lives? The carefully crafted persona of appearing to be an activist has taken over social media, with people pretending to care about topics that they do not take any initiative to be an ally to in their real lives. Performative activism is extremely harmful to social movements, and to the people who actually work towards change in their everyday lives.
Photo by Casey Wood
When you log onto social media, what do you see? Chances are you see at least one reposted infographic, and posts on what it means to be an ally. The thing is, not everyone is posting these with the intent of educating others or even just educating themselves. After May of 2020, and the killing of George Floyd that led to the spread of the Black Lives Matter movement, many white people said they would continue to “read, watch, and listen”, but how many of them have actually done that? So many people have failed to carry this into their own lives and still mistreat BIPOC creators and peers. One of the most ironic cases of performative activism was the band formerly known as Lady Antebellum changing their name to avoid the connotations with slavery that the word “antebellum” has, and in turn suing a Black musician for the name Lady A, which went against everything they were supposed to be doing. One of the most widespread examples of performative activism was the #blackoutday, where everyone posted black squares in support of Black creators, but all it did was fill up a hashtag and give people the opportunity to exempt themselves from their white guilt. Standing with a movement means caring about the people in your life affected by it, checking in, and truly listening. It does not mean posting a black square and calling your work done. It does not mean posting an infographic, then turning around and ignoring the claims of your peers who are in these marginalized groups. But social media has made it so much easier for people to create this facade of caring when in actuality, they are no better than the online trolls that they swear they are nothing like.
Photo by The F Word Magazine
In a way, it hurts more as a person of color and member of the LGBTQ+ community to see people pretend to care about a movement, then turn around and disregard it in their own lives, than to see someone being an outright bigot. The former group, the performative activists, are sneaky. They make you believe that you can trust them and that they care, but in the end, they do not. And the worst part is that many do not see the error of their own ways. They will say they care, but when you call them out, or one of their friends out for being a bigot, they defensively state, “You’re wrong!”, “But I support Black Lives Matter,” or “You’re just being sensitive, nobody meant it like that!” These are the people that are the most dangerous and pose the greatest threat to social movements, because they pollute critical movements, and commercialize it for their own personal gain. It makes them no better than the people who say nothing at all because they are only putting “Black Lives Matter” and “ACAB” in their Instagram bio to seem woke, but if you ask them to look inside themselves and reevaluate their own treatment of people, they couldn’t care less.
Avoiding performative activism is much easier than you would think, and if it seems like avoiding it is hard, you may be part of the problem. Just because you have friends in marginalized groups, or post weekly in support of a social movement, does not mean you are exempt from being in the wrong. If you are only an activist when other people are watching, then what does that say about you? Who are you when nobody is watching? What would you say if someone called you out for bigoted behavior? Would you listen and grow, or defend your own actions? Take the time to truly look at your life, and see if the actions you’ve taken are actually making a difference for marginalized communities, because if your activism is only performative, then you are no better than the bigots you claim to be against.