Our healthcare system is close to the breaking point, gas prices are on the rise, local fisheries scientists are telling us our stocks are in danger, the federal government is pushing a bill making it illegal to put CDs you bought on your own MP3 player, and what are we doing about it? We're making Facebook groups, that's what.
I don't mean to come across high and mighty - I am, after all, a member of 37 Facebook groups, five of which are political. But what do we hope to achieve by joining these groups? Do we really think 482 people putting their name to a group about keeping the federal government from turning lakes into mine dump sites is really going to sway the powers that be?
One thing I've heard again and again from working in student media is that young people are apathetic, they just don't care; I don't think this is true. Young people care, they're just really lazy. I should know, I am a lazy young person. It's much easier to join a Facebook group, bitch on a blog, call Open Line, or just grumble with your friends than it is to take any sort of action.
And it's not just young people (how many young people call Open Line, really?) — when was the last time we held a big protest in this province? I don't know a lot about this province's history, admittedly, but the last serious riot I hear about was in 1932 when our government was collapsing and the people were starving. We're a lot better off than we were back then, but our current situation is far from rosey.
Facebook groups, much like petitions, have their place, but they can't work alone. Governments know how easy it is to rubber stamp their name onto a document, so merely attaching our name onto a cause isn't enough.
I'm hesitant to organize a protest myself — I'm supposed to write news, not make it — but that's also just an excuse. As a member of the media (yeah, I feel pretentious saying that) I'm supposed to keep my opinion out of my stories, but that doesn't mean I or anyone else can't express their opinion outside (and in some cases, inside) their occupations. As members of a democracy, we have a right to dissent and protest, so why don't we?
We put governments into power and if we don't like what they're doing, we can take them out, but they don't feel that fear of their people that they should. I'm not saying act blindly - research, educate yourself about issues, and use these Facebook groups to organize and plan your course of action, instead of just showing your anger, passion, support, or what have you with the click of a button before you go watch YouTube. And that goes for me, too.
