By Alana Penny
Following the murder of George Floyd, social media infographics became more popular than ever. Usually a brightly colored background with dark text and sometimes graphs or illustrations, infographics are aesthetically pleasing. Last summer there were hundreds that went around but there were a handful that seemed to appear on everyone’s Instagram stories.
“I remember just going on Instagram and seeing on everyone's stories, the same information,” SUNY Plattsburgh sophomore journalism and public relations major Olivia Bousquet said. “While I think it's great to use your platform to show that you want to do something, it can also look like false advertising. If you don’t walk the walk, don’t talk the talk.”
Many of these reposts seemed to be mindlessly shared, offering no additional commentary or action. The pandemic also played a huge role in how people did activism. There were marches all over the country but a lot of action had to be taken from home.
“It kind of makes me wonder how the Black Lives Matter movement would have played out this summer if we weren’t in a pandemic and forced to only experience the world through screens,” lifestyle and culture blogger Amanda Maryanna said in a video essay she posted on YouTube titled, “The Instagram Infographic Industrial Complex.”
“There was no option to look away, it was the thing going on because nothing else in the world was going on,” Maryanna said. “It makes me wonder, if we had been able to be distracted by living a normal life would it have gotten so much attention?”
Infographics can be a great way of bringing up topics privileged people may not have thought to consider. They get reactions out of people and spark discussion. They provide resources to be consumed, organizations and individuals to support.
Recently, after Minneapolis police shot and killed 20 year old Daunte Wright, a post went around on Instagram that had Wright’s girlfriend’s Cash App and Venmo usernames. This allowed people to donate directly to those most devastated by his death. Psychiatrist Roger Jay Lifton came up with the concept of psychic numbing. It comes from the idea that individuals and societies tend to be withdrawn emotionally from traumatic phenomenas that effect large groups of people. People are more inclined to donate to an individual person rather than a whole group of people. It reassured people their donations would be used to help support someone in pain and need of support.
Infographics don’t just cover Black Lives Matter, they have begun to be used more frequently for mental health topics with titles such as “so you want to talk about depression” and “5 signs you are experiencing general anxiety.” There are similar concerns to be had with these as well, less from a performative activism standpoint and more of a false positivity standpoint. Many of them have good, useful information, but many of them provide solutions for practicing self-care like taking a bath, coloring or doing a face mask. All of which are great for taking care of yourself, but when it comes to addressing mental health many of these posts lack helpful resources and often take a “just be positive” route.
The intention behind artistic, brightly colored infographics explaining topics like “what is police reform and how can you help?” are good. But good intentions aren’t enough. Good intentions alone don’t fix institutions, hold powerful people accountable or protect vulnerable peoples. That must be done out in the real world.
Celebrities and influencers, in particular, were under a microscope when it came to speaking out about racism. Some received backlash for being performative and not using their platform and money to help. Kylie and Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevingne, posted a Black Lives Matter graphic to their Instagram stories, tagging other celebrities to get them to post it as well. Some were criticized for not posting at all.
“Celebrities have a really unique situation since they have a really large following,” Bousquet said. “They can influence young people, especially on social media, to look at things differently. They could be donating and they're just not advertising it, which is better because they are not boasting about their activism.”
Social media is already a superficial, controlled way of sharing one’s life, so it never tells the whole story.
“In June 2020 if you weren’t posting or reposting infographics that condemned racism, your silence made more of a statement than what you actually said,” Maryanna said in her video. ”Especially if you were an influencer. When people start calling you out for not doing something and your goal is to stay in the good graces of the general public or your followers, the easiest thing to do is appease, to put that infographic on your story or to put BLM resources in your bio for a few weeks so it doesn't look like you're racist or ignorant.”
The oversimplification and downplaying of information is another vice of infographics.
Social media has gotten to a place where nothing is off limits when it comes to making memes. When a few infographics addressing one topic become especially popular, sometimes we get phrases that are commonly used when discussing that topic, making it more meme-able. For example, after the murder of Breonna Taylor, many posts about her included “arrest the cops who murdered Breonna Taylor in her home.” T-shirts were made that read “single, taken, arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor in her home” with a check mark next to the latter. Actor Ben Platt tweeted, “roses are red, violets are blue, arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor in her home.” The people who address issues like the murder of Breonna Taylor in this format seem to have good intentions. Social media has trained us to present information in an attention-grabbing, condensed way. We are convinced everything needs to be easily digestible so that we can read it and move on. Social and racial injustices should not be easily digestible.
There is a difference between making information easy to digest, and making it accessible. There are plenty of resources — books, documentaries, Ted Talks, podcasts — that explain social and racial issues in layman's terms. They are created to be understood. These resources share personal experiences, data and history. The information that will help people understand the experiences of marginalized people will afflict the privileged, as it should. Change will not happen until those with privilege and power dedicate themselves to understanding what the people around them are experiencing.
“[Posts] like ‘today I woke up, had cereal and wasn’t racist,’ does absolutely nothing,” Bousquet said. “I don't know if organizations are trying to appeal more to young people’s humor or their side of things but I think a lot of young people are very aggressive politically and they want things to be done and social justice to occur.”
Although it did seem like people were actively seeking out new information to share, sometimes it seemed as though people saw the same information on so many accounts they felt guilty if they didn’t also post it. This is a sign your activism is performative.
According to Petiri Ira, who wrote the article “The Difference Between Performative Activism and Genuine Allyship,” performative activism is a form of activism used to increase one’s social capital or personal gain rather than support a movement, issue or cause.
There is not an issue with starting a conversation on social media, but there is with ending it on social media.
Rather than posting the latest infographic you’re seeing on everyone’s Instagram stories, do you own research. Get informed about the social and racial injustices happening around you every day. It may seem small but calling out your peers when they are being ignorant goes a long way and makes a difference. When you really care about an issue you’re most likely going to want to post about it but it will be because you believe it will help your peers, not because you feel guilty for not posting anything. Being a performative ally is not a productive use of your privilege.
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