Performative activism: what it is and why it’s toxic

Performative activism (also known as slacktivism) is when ‘support’ is rooted in capitalisation on a social issue to gain some kind of social capital rather than showing genuine support for the cause. This behaviour can either be intentional or unintentional, and is more to do with seeming ‘woke’ than actually taking action towards an issue. This kind of engagement usually comes during a surge in online uprisings and show no effort in positively contributing toward the movement, but instead to centre oneself within it to obtain social approval.

Performative activism is also counter-productive. By flooding online spaces with useless attempts at being politically correct, actual significant information gets drowned out. This was specifically evident during the recent Black Lives Matter movement, specifically the #BlackoutTuesday trend during which half the globe posted black squares on their social media channels to show their support. This seemed like a social misfire, as crucial information regarding protests and safety information amongst others lost the space that the plain blank squares took up. It contributed nothing but a wave of black Instagram feeds.   

Performative activism is also convenience based, with people strategically timing when they decide to wake up and say something. In todays day, we are hardwired into documenting everything online. And we are unable to stop these habits even in such important contexts. From companies posting aesthetic graphics, to changing profile pictures to celebrities singing Imagine; these attempts are futile and honestly, a bit tone deaf. Oversimplifying issues and reducing them to singular posts that come at convenient times take away from the reality of these issues and blurs the line between genuine support and meaningless contributions online.

Performative activism doesn’t always come from a place of malice though. Not everyone is out chasing social ‘clout’ when they post about social issues. It can be argued that despite it not making a huge impact, it is still bringing attention to the issue. Something is better than nothing. Still, I personally think that it comes off as insensitive and just a waste of time. It diminishes the intensity of real-life activism and allows people to believe that simply posting content here and there on the Internet is enough. Activism should not only be an extension of an online persona.

Social media has programmed us into believing that unless we post about something, it never really happened. However, we need to stop and question whether the hashtag we’re about to tweet will really help in the larger scheme of things. Does it really do anything? Does it really help? It is perfectly acceptable to use your platform the way you see fit, and you can let people in on where you stand on a cause, but take a second to do some research into what you can do beyond that. It can be difficult to tell the difference, but people need to educate themselves to be aware that social injustices are very real, and the urge to raise awareness should be present even when it is not trendy and even when your friends are not posting about it.