Any of you with profiles on Facebook or other social networking websites are probably familiar with groups that support stopping genocide. The largest I found is “For Every 1,000 People That Join This Group I Will Donate $1 to
The benefits of these kinds of groups are that it is a great way to reach a vast audience, since millions of people are members of social networking websites. Someone who stumbles across one of these groups may be the type of person that doesn’t usually watch the news, and therefore will not have known before about a genocide and inspire them to do something.
What makes me worry about this phenomenon is that I feel like it can make someone feel like they’re being an upstander without making any significant changes to their life or making any difference. The majority of Facebook groups I’m I’ve never really thought after. If people feel like they have changed the world by simply clicking their mouse, will they ever do anything else? I also feel that possibly, since people generally come on Facebook to talk to friends or look at pictures, it may create resentment or fatigue. When people just want to be carefree for a half an hour on Facebook, they are instead reminded of tragic world events. I think this may cause some people to not want to think about genocide at all.
Some other questions to consider
1) What are other benefits and drawbacks to groups that aim to raise awareness about genocide?
2) Do you believe these groups make a difference for people who join them, aid organizations, and victims of genocide?
3) Does widespread use of Facebook make stopping genocide seem less important? Tha is to say, does seeing a group about stopping genocide in between a group about Fergie and a group about the Disney "D" make it seem like a less worthy cause?
Please add anything else I haven’t thought of also.
