Forget Hashtag Activism: a Millennial's Guide To Nuclear Weapons Realism

Lasrick writes: Matthew Costlow is frustrated with his generation's tendency of "hashtag activism" and would like Millennials instead to get real on the issue of nuclear weapons. He writes: "Allow me to suggest a radical new mindset for my generation as it confronts the issues of nuclear disarmament, Russian and Chinese aggression, and nuclear proliferation: extreme humility. Instead of 'boldly' proclaiming the need to raise awareness, let's utilize our generation's greatest asset—access to data—and truly understand the issues before trying to solve anything. Instead of proposing 'fresh ideas' for their own sake, let's recognize that we are not the first generation to deal with these issues and probably will not be the last. Instead of studiously avoiding specifics or hard choices, let's face a messy reality and not simplify an increasingly complex world to bumper-sticker activism."

Comments

Re:mmm...

[PopeRatzo]

Have you ever been to OWS and such? Meatspace is very much about hashtag activism these days, unfortunately.

It always has been. Slogans have always been part of political activism. They've found the same political graffiti in several places in pre-Christian Europe.

Just because it's given a new name, "hashtag" doesn't mean it's something new. I'll bet there were plenty of dilettante colonials who were saying "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" when there were no British within earshot.

It's not a new thing. Some people are Martin Luther King or Ghandi who will go to jail or starve themselves for a cause, and some people are Sarah Palin, who stands fast on the issues until she chips a nail or her gravy train gets stalled.