Safety Pin: The Latest Trend
I wasn't aware of the safety pin movement until just recently when we had a discussion in class about it. Here's a good summary of the symbol, courtesy of Snopes:
As stories of post-election violence and hate speech circulate online, some people have begun wearing safety pins to identify themselves as allies in the fight against intolerance, and to show solidarity with women, LGBT people, immigrants, and people of color feeling frightened by Trump’s presidency and the vitriol that some of his supporters display.
Sounds all well and pretty, but critics cite it as slacktivism at its finest:
Slacktivism is the search for the ultimate feel-good that derives from having come to society's rescue without actually getting one's hands dirty, volunteering any of one's time, or opening one's wallet.
I firmly stand by the slacktivism side. What purpose does wearing the safety pin actually accomplish? Are marginalized people supposed to magically trust you because you're sporting a pin?
One might argue that its purpose is to raise awareness, something along the lines of the ALS ice bucket challenge. Yet, awareness isn't the issue. In my opinion, the efforts wasted into the safety pin would be better spent trying to get people into committing to action for the cause.
That's just my 2 cents. What do you think?
I think we need to reinstate the draft
Let's not mate
We have our first "volunteer".
Also you need to learn to use a comma, unless I misread that comment.
Jesus.... how ridiculous. if people wore American flag pins to identify themselves as pro-American they'd be labeled as racist, misogynist, etc, etc, everything wrong ever with anyone. our country's flag!
Totally agree. Some of those things are real awareness actions which I have absolutely nothing against (e.g. "Pink October" "Blue November"pins etc), and others are indeed meant to show support even though people can't do much more (e.g. after September 11, you could see some people here wearing US flag lapel pins in support even though this was not even something that hurt our country).
It is a totally different thing when you simply wear a safety pin but don't move a muscle to help those people when you can do something "for real". I"m not saying people will be the next Schindlers but wearing a safety pin while still discriminating against minorities, spreading offensive or difamatory stories and bad jokes etc is simply ridiculous.
"frightened by Trump's presidency"
I've had my suspicions before but now I'm making it official: I no longer identify as a millennial.
the country has changed a bit since i left....
I propose a new activist challenge.. Go sport your safety pin walking around in some "inner city" neighborhoods particularly if you are white. You'll come back with a new perspective I assure you.
Meanwhile I'm going to sport an American flag pin so people know I'm not some jackass who tweets about Trump's racism and the violence of his supporters while calling for attacks on police or am running around destroying my own neighborhood in Portland before heading home to Netflix The Purge instead of actually watching the news or something.
people are getting way too butthurt about something that has so little impact on their daily lives.
fuck 'em, let 'em worry, let 'em wear whatever, it's a free country. I don't need to have any pieces of flair to let people know I'm not a bigot.
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