“… while there is still much good that comes from linking, liking and tweeting information about anti-racist politics, it’s crucial to begin transferring digital expressions of solidarity into concrete actions: checking privilege, insisting that others do the same, attending demonstrations, contacting institutions, sending donations, and volunteering time are just a few ways in which virtual engagement becomes actual, and affect leads to action.”
The idea of checking privilege is a crucial way of how one should present themselves on social media. The article by Senft and Noble is very pertinent, especially within today’s social media and highlights topics often not discussed or pushed under the rug. However, in relation to the statistics of social media by minorities, we can see through the PBS video shown below, that Twitter is becoming a platform that can be utilized to show issues of injustice or race, and begin a dialogue so these problems can start a conversation. Stacia Brown explains within her video that while there is a lot of mockery of race in videos that mimic a particular stereotype, also “social media is also a great way to amplify voices that would not otherwise be amplified.”She claims that the visual nature of platforms such as Twitter allows users to document instances of racism and injustice, providing evidence that such incidents occur more often than mainstream media coverage might suggest.” We see this in the use of hashtags pulling an online community, such as twitter, together making them aware of a particular situation. The accessibility of the Internet in the US is more prevalent then ever; it should empower an individual to speak out.
However, in regards to videos like that of the UCLA disaster, users need to consider their audience. Audience is important when addressing social media. Who is seeing the video? Would someone you know be offended? Do you generally feel okay about sharing that particular thought with the world? When it comes to the internet, the idea of morality and the consciousness of others seems to be getting lost, and this is something that is in need of some serious change. In a world where every key stroked leaves a ‘carbon footprint’ in the digital world, checking your privilege is vital.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pta08f6h9L8
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/social-media-changed-way-talk-race-justice/
I agree, it is so important to appropriately address the audience, like posting on a private twitter page, versus posting a video to youtube. This goes back to the concept of public, you have to be so careful in cyperspace. But I mean the Internet today exists at such a disconnected, yet at the same time more connected than ever before. People sit behind a device, and try to comprehend from afar what the other is attempting to say, but everything is so easily skewed and digested in a way is not controlled. Its kind of a bittersweet thing or what I like to call a beautiful diaster lol. So many oppurtunities to become educated and open, but also oppurtunities to misconstrue and offend.
In a way, the super public that the Internet has created can be used as a tool to actually check privilege itself. Now more than ever, people can call out others for being racist. Racist acts on the internet have the potential for becoming virally known, and the impact of the criticism that brings is enough for anyone to see their wrong. These things make others aware of what is racist, giving others who were once ignorant a new perspective on the way they interact with different people in society. The internet brings awareness, which leads to self evaluation, which can prompt individual change for the better.
The idea of the super publics, I think, is a bit contrived. I do think that the idea of the super publics does and can exist, an existence only made possibly by the Internet. However, I do feel as if it isn’t as much of a hard truth as it has been made out to be. The appeal of the internet is its ability to create small niche communities for people’s online personas to exist and interact in. These confined digital spaces definitely limit greater online visibility and transparency, thus enforcing a sort of online segregation. Since people are bound or attracted to others on a basis of familial relation, geographical placement, or interests, the internet really doesn’t act, to the extent to which some think it might, as a self-critical space keeping individuals in line. I believe that, yes, there are moments when the super public does come into play, but these are only a few select moments. The super public acts only when boundaries separating these niche communities are crossed.