3 ms·

I’ve seen the word “activists” used in this manner to describe a certain type of person, who in my mind hardly qualifies as an activist. At most they are a pers

I’ve seen the word “activists” used in this manner to describe a certain type of person, who in my mind hardly qualifies as an activist. At most they are a person who follows the day to day of our political theater, but I doubt they could point to a single policy or proposal they actually advocated for in any political forum. Coding behavior this way is misleading and counterproductive. Activism is a generally respectable activity, it entails actually showing up and giving your time towards something you care about, not just lecturing people about watching cable news.

Anthony-G 3y ago
Twenty years ago such people would have been (disparagingly) referred to as “keyboard warriors” by “boots on the ground” activists. I haven’t come across the “keyboard warriors” term in a long time – most likely because the online “activists” vastly outnumber the activists who don’t confine their political activity to the online sphere.
colpabar 3y ago
I get your point, but isn't this kind of a no true scotsman thing? Social media has a lot of people thinking that they are activists because they have a hashtag in their twitter name or post black squares on instagram. What would you call those people? They call themselves activists, or they at least call those activities activism. If I had written the comment you replied to, I would have put the word in quotes. Some people use the term "slacktivist", but I think terms like that are silly. And to be clear, I'm with you - when I think of an activist, I think of someone collecting signatures door-to-door, or organizing an irl event, etc. I think of someone actually trying to accomplish something rather than just signaling virtue. But I also think that if enough people use a word a certain way, that's what the word means, and a lot of people seem to think that "just lecturing people" counts as activism.
- comte7092 3y ago
  > They call themselves activists My assumption is that parent comment was applying that label well beyond the group that labels themselves as such. Social media activism can still be activism. I’m not looking to gatekeep. Given the context of this forum, people really love to throw this and other similar terms around in a way that reads as a pejorative. Basically, “people with a specific type of politics that I don’t like and who annoy me”. Ex. Elons “I support the current thing” tweet.

Anthony-G 3y ago

Twenty years ago such people would have been (disparagingly) referred to as “keyboard warriors” by “boots on the ground” activists. I haven’t come across the “keyboard warriors” term in a long time – most likely because the online “activists” vastly outnumber the activists who don’t confine their political activity to the online sphere.

colpabar 3y ago

I get your point, but isn't this kind of a no true scotsman thing? Social media has a lot of people thinking that they are activists because they have a hashtag in their twitter name or post black squares on instagram. What would you call those people? They call themselves activists, or they at least call those activities activism. If I had written the comment you replied to, I would have put the word in quotes. Some people use the term "slacktivist", but I think terms like that are silly. And to be clear, I'm with you - when I think of an activist, I think of someone collecting signatures door-to-door, or organizing an irl event, etc. I think of someone actually trying to accomplish something rather than just signaling virtue. But I also think that if enough people use a word a certain way, that's what the word means, and a lot of people seem to think that "just lecturing people" counts as activism.

comte7092 3y ago
> They call themselves activists My assumption is that parent comment was applying that label well beyond the group that labels themselves as such. Social media activism can still be activism. I’m not looking to gatekeep. Given the context of this forum, people really love to throw this and other similar terms around in a way that reads as a pejorative. Basically, “people with a specific type of politics that I don’t like and who annoy me”. Ex. Elons “I support the current thing” tweet.