Facebook Passive Activism Strikes Again

First there was the bra color bandwagon half-heartedly supporting breast cancer, and now Facebook users are being urged to change their profile pictures to a picture of a cartoon character in order to stop child abuse. Right, that'll teach 'em! While there have been several instances of passive activism in between, this one makes absolutely no sense.

"Please change your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood until Monday (Dec 6th). There should be no human faces on Facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is in support of the campaign to end violence against children!"

Okay, I fell for the bra color game. Sure, it made me think about breast cancer, but I didn't donate money to the cause, nor did I rush out to get a breast exam. I'd bet I'm in the majority of Facebook users who jumped on the passive activism bandwagon and did nothing, but at least I eventually realized the pointlessness of the game. Now that the cartoon profile pictures have gone viral, I'd be embarrassed to fall for this again.

Child abusers are sick individuals. They may know it's wrong to beat a child senseless, but the majority can't help themselves due to frequent and uncontrollable rage or mental illness. How on Earth will changing a picture to a cartoon image help change anything? Will it remind me not to abuse my children? No, because I already don't. Will it remind those sick individuals to stop beating their kids? No, because if they could stop, they would have done so already. Will family members come forward with knowledge of abuse? Better late than never, but if they haven't already, they probably won't now. Will it bring donations to child abuse programs? No, not actively. Does changing your picture and doing nothing else equate to sitting down and mentoring an abused child? No way. That's why these Facebook gestures, while well-meaning, are nothing but passive activism.

So let's get off our butts and do something about these causes. Donating money to an organization is more helpful than Googling old cartoon characters pictures. Here are some hands-on organizations that deserve our attention and donations:

http://www.childabuse.org/Page.aspx?pid=241
http://www.preventchildabuse.org/help/reach_out.shtml
http://www.preventchildabuse.net/donations.htm