The role of social media can be regarded as a game-changer within society as it gives the right to every individual to protest against the authorities who failed to provide them with necessities. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that social media played a vital role in bringing awareness, courage, and a sense of discrimination between right and wrong. But claiming Social media as an essential medium to pertain to social justice would not complement until learning the complexities in its terminologies.
Social media is categorized into many classifications, two of which could be: Rational and Irrational subjects. Some posts on your Facebook feed are convincing enough for you to loop into the chain of believers of the same issue. The larger the chain continues, the more significant impact it leaves on other audiences to be convincing enough and meet the objective it demands. But on the other hand, the irrational post won’t be compelling enough to engage your attention. The classification of these kinds varies from person to person.
Let’s have a deeper look at how social media works in providing social justice.
INDIVIDUAL INSTINCT
This process is mainly dependent on how human psychology and its environmental study works. You won’t expect a French citizen to stand against France and support the United Kingdom until his instinct compels him to distinguish the matter accordingly. The customs and traditions of his environments hold a significant impact on him. Individual intuition plays a very influential role as it excels the audience gradually under a particular object but comprises potential efforts and rational approach for a person of how he convinces.
For Instance, a Soldier from “A” Town was killed by the soldier from “B” Town, which led both the towns to act sorrowfully or celebrate accordingly. But demanding Town “B” soldier’s assassination as a truce would not stabilize the social justice as Both the towns were mutually aware of the outcomes. Even if the descendant demands this kind of justice, it won’t be convincing enough for society to support them. There would be a massive chance for the audience to regard this as an irrational subject.
Still, on the contrary, if the descendants are not provided with financial rights by the authority and demand for justice for their living, it would be compelling enough for the audience to consider such a subject as Rational and convincing. This may also include using social media solely as a tool for exposing the authorities. It wouldn’t be wrong to claim that.
“Shooting through a camera does more damage than shooting from a gun.”
Collective Influence
Collectively a person is influenced by the actions and demands majorly raised by the vast audience in society. These demands mainly arise to acknowledge the audience of their fundamental rights, which authorities miserably failed to provide and are liable to pay equivalent or alternative facilities to accommodate the situation. In such scenarios, Social media is used as a weapon to compel them.
This will increase the circle of believers even more prominent with convincing stories or taglines. This classification of audiences mainly focuses on class indifference, injustice, mass killing of a particular group, and even the positive cause of donation, contributing to the welfare and promoting good deeds that stabilize society to maintain a wave of peace and harmony.
Somehow both of the classifications mentioned above of social media are mutually interlinked and productive enough to excel in their particular objective. Many Articles and Incidents of such a process are witnessed and recorded on websites. One of such examples could be
● Black Lives Matter – Minneapolis, USA
It was an individual instinct for a person who recorded the injustice made by the local police when he pinned down the Afro- American man George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and was arrested on suspicion of counterfeiting a $20 bill from a local store. The video also includes George begging for mercy by saying, “I can’t breathe.” BLM soon became a movement and influenced the collective class of audience to protest against Police brutality. The situation was so overwhelming that Minneapolis city settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Floyd’s family for $27 million. Not only this, but charges against the police officers were filed on account of murder and manslaughter.
●Islamophobia – The West
With an increase in hate crime geared towards Muslims and people who look like Muslims, including Sikhs in turbans, the hashtag #islamophobia has shed much-needed light on the effects of the constant negative media portrayal of Muslims. The lives of multiple families and communities have been derailed in the past two decades due to heinous hate crimes. Grassroots organizations, social justice groups, and political organizations have used the #islamophobia hashtag to raise awareness of these statistics and realities to the broader western audience.
● Free Palestine – Gaza, Palestine
A recent example of when the power of social media was showcased has been the past few weeks. With hashtags like #FreePalestine #SaveSheikhJarrah trending, the world came to know of the apartheid in Palestine. The atrocities and miserable conditions the people of Gaza have been living in came to the surface. With a quick tweet, or by going live people all over the world got a glimpse into the lives of Palestinians who are being arrested unlawfully, and being murdered ruthlessly by Israeli airstrikes. In response, people all over the world stood together, used their voices, and held protests on multiple different occasions in major cities all over the world calling on their governments to take action and #EndTheOccupation
● Content Analyzing:
The unintentional motive mainly caused the movements, as mentioned earlier. The rationale was not intended to be obtained. Still, it triggered the audience to the extent that they demanded a substitute for their right, which was previously disregarded or suppressed under the government. These matters are majorly observed to drift from maintaining harmony instead of creating chaos and violation among the protocols set by the authorities, which could be easily claimed as rebellious and provoking. Such matters expect the audience to analyze the content and react accordingly or be accountable for the consequences.
Summing up here, you can play your part too in giving justice, utilizing social media platforms. However, keep in mind that you alone can’t change society; you need to persuade the audience to build up an army against the cause. For that, words won’t be enough; thus, make your content impactful! Get in touch with a trustworthy brand like Sunan Designs to put forward your initiative, and they’ll help you plan how to leverage the quality of the content.
