The Petition Site: Fight for Social Justice Online

The Petition Site is a way to become politically active without ever leaving your computer. This Web site has become increasingly popular and, to date, has collected almost 23-million signatures on a wide variety of issues. It is a way for ordinary citizens to be heard, fight for change, gather support and raise awareness. Petitions are free and easy to create, and the result of the petitions can be accessed directly by those who you are trying to persuade.

Today, I signed a petition involving three individuals who had tortured a dog to death. The signed petitions will all be handed over to a district attorney in Texas. This case is particularly heinous and we are demanding the maximum punishment allowable by law. The petition was just started yesterday with a goal of 5000 signatures. In less than 24 hrs we have already gained 4,977 signatures. The hope is that with widespread public support we will have an influence on the sentence handed down.

The Petition Site has a huge number of petitions to fight for animal welfare, which is my area of interest. They also have other categories including corporate accountability, education, environment and wildlife, health, human rights, media, arts, culture, politics, spirituality and religion. Reading through the pages of petitions is better than watching the news! It is an education on corruption and what is wrong in the world. It is a glimmer of hope for social justice and change.

Starting a petition is free and easy. In step one you can upload a photo, enter petitions title, your name, who you are sending petition to, and overview of what it is about. In step two you enter your personal info, petition category, signature goal and photo caption. In step 3 you simply add a short description, make sure it looks perfect and then submit! It may sounds a little complicated but is extremely easy when you start. It takes less than 10 minutes to create a petition. You will also be featured on home page for a time and this site gets a lot of traffic. You will receive your own URL to promote to gain additional awareness of your cause.

The Petition Site is a way to get involved with current issues and influence change. Many people reading the petitions are inspired to get involved above and beyond merely signing. Writers may become so touched by a cause they choose to write further about the issue. Links to the petitions end up in email signatures, on forums, in newsletters and websites.