=

[tape]

eh....i think they are intended as more of a show of support than as something that will actually do anything...the act is not necessarily slacktivism if it makes someone feel better. personally, the sentiment of "you guys are ridiculous! i'm keeping this prof pic of me masturbating on top of the himalayas out of principle" to be just as annoying as the onslaught of red equals signs. i don't mind criticizing the practice, but it just seems counter-intuitive to brag about how much you don't care

i also think it's funny that in typical internet fashion this entire spectacle turned into a contest to see whose was more funny/creative/pop-culture related. i think it's a nice concept that someone struggling in the civil rights debate would see such a prof and think someone was on their side. i don't know how they might feel if they saw two waggling dicks across a red background. but, maybe people don't care and the gripe about our commentator culture is meaningless against a backdrop of people falling in line with a good cause...even it is a bit too internet-y a trend for my pure appreciation

this. its more to show that which is invisible to so many people.

im now gonna read the 4 pages of this thread.

edit: im with jumpluff here. wow straights woah.

edit2: omg i just remembered the kony/= correlation some people have made and i just couldnt stop laughin hahahahha apples and fuckin oranges.

 

[Mulligan]

The straightness in this thread hit a new level.

...

Damn straight.

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist :(

 

[cim]

Aimed at basically everyone, apologies if you are a person whom the show of support is intended for. People complaining about actual issues (like the fact it's the HRC logo), by all means, go ahead. =D Slacktivism is bad, but it does not apply to everything. There are a couple of bones to pick with the RED MENACE, but I'm the only one who's brought any of them up. Overall good sentiment though, and if it makes people feel welcome, I'm not complaining about that part.

i agree, not to mention that if one says starting a conversation on an issue never changes anything, they are just outright rejecting the idea of social change

getting conversations started does fucking work, don't knock it, straights

that said I didn't change my profile picture, because the HRC kinda sucks and also because i could just make a status about it and it would accomplish more (not that it accomplishes much)

 

[Smith]

Well my profile picture has been the stupid equals sign for a day or two now, and I must say that I really did just think that the equal sign was a sign of support for the LGBT community and had no knowledge of the shortcomings (or existence of) the HRC. Still, I'm not going to change it. It isn't "slacktivism" if it actually DOES accomplish something, which it does. In Kony 2012, literally nothing was solved by that stupid movement, and any "positive" effort made went towards funding an equally morally questionable resistance army. The equals sign is a show of support for people on my Facebook that I may or may not know are gay, to let them know that I still accept them as people and that I'm on their side. It's easier being gay than it used to be, but it's still not easy, especially in the southern United States. Obviously this has 0 impact on the eventual decision from the Supreme Court, but I want the gay people in my life to see the whole slew of equal signs and know that it's getting better.

And in regards to the whole '(BAN ME PLEASE)' thing and talking about how straight everybody is, I think what everybody's trying to get at is that you don't have the right to tell somebody what should or what should not offend them. You can think that them being offended by something is stupid, and, certainly, I do think that being offended by a word is stupid, but at the end of the day, I understand why it offends some people to be called a (BAN ME PLEASE). It's really easy for me to think that's stupid, because I'm a straight white male and I haven't had to deal with any of this discrimination shit before.

 

[inanimate blob]

One issue that I've been seeing is that the red equal sign is "marking" people as being gay in the eyes of some people. In fact, a large portion of my friends that have changed their profile picture are in fact gay, and my other friends are beginning to associate the red equal sign with being a homosexual.

This might not be the case where you guys are, but here in the South it's fairly rare for people to be pretty outspoken, especially about sexual preference. The red equal sign is beginning to become more of a hindrance in less open-minded areas, as is turning out to be a bit like the Stars of David that the Jewish people had to wear in Nazi Germany. But that's just my area, hopefully it's not that bad elsewhere.

On a positive note, it did cause a Bible thumper to try to take on a few homosexuals, some of my more liberal friends, and myself, which ended with him getting called a (BAN ME PLEASE) in sheet irony and the group of us making a pretty solid point.

So maybe I should give it a little more credit than I have previously.

 

[Every1XplodeNOW]

But c/ping a red = isn't going to change crap. Might as well be kony.

To me, someone who's gay and not out to anyone, it felt really good seeing people I didn't even know that supported equal rights show that they would accept me for who I am. Especially since I live in a backwards town where people still think they can solve their problems with a barrel of a gun and where you occasional hear the "n" word being thrown around. Even if people here do support it, they don't talk about due to fear of being ridicule by others, so to me, it was great seeing people actually take a stand and say what they believe without caring what others would think, even if it's coping a red = on a social media site. Don't try to say something won't help when you don't know everyone's situation, because there's kids and adults alike that have it way worse than me, and them just seeing that someone cares might actually help them get through the day. You would be surprised at how much something as simple as this could help someone.

 

[Lemonade]

Aren't the profile pictures like the Obama Biden '12 bumper stickers / yard decorations? They show what (who) you support. Like how many people with those bumper stickers actively went around trying to make sure Obama won? I'm sure some did, just like some of the people with the profile pictures actively try to change gay marriage. I don't see why there needs to be all this "a profile picture is useless." I forgot people like attention good or bad

 

[jumpluff]

On a positive note, it did cause a Bible thumper to try to take on a few homosexuals, some of my more liberal friends, and myself, which ended with him getting called a (BAN ME PLEASE) in sheet irony and the group of us making a pretty solid point.

I hate it when people -- the straights, not-straight people, whatever -- fight homophobia with homophobia. I really hate it. It detracts from any point you guys could've made. =/ Good to see you guys sticking up for each other though.

To me, someone who's gay and not out to anyone, it felt really good seeing people I didn't even know that supported equal rights show that they would accept me for who I am. Especially since I live in a backwards town where people still think they can solve their problems with a barrel of a gun and where you occasional hear the "n" word being thrown around. Even if people here do support it, they don't talk about due to fear of being ridicule by others, so to me, it was great seeing people actually take a stand and say what they believe without caring what others would think, even if it's coping a red = on a social media site. Don't try to say something won't help when you don't know everyone's situation, because there's kids and adults alike that have it way worse than me, and them just seeing that someone cares might actually help them get through the day. You would be surprised at how much something as simple as this could help someone.

:D :D :D :D :D :D That's great, glad it made you feel good! Sorry to hear you live in such a hostile place, I hope you can get to a place (figurative or literal) where you feel free to come out. :)

Also, I support every word cim wrote.

 

[DM]

This is what I said about it yesterday:

I see people complaining about "all the red" and sharing that text image of Justice Kennedy mentioning Facebook profile picture changing. My response:

I'm willing to bet you have friends that are still in the closet and terrified about coming out. This show of support, of community, of togetherness, may just be the act of kindness that gives them the strength to live as they truly are.

So stop complaining.

That's all there is to it.

 

[blitzlefan]

To me, someone who's gay and not out to anyone, it felt really good seeing people I didn't even know that supported equal rights show that they would accept me for who I am. Especially since I live in a backwards town where people still think they can solve their problems with a barrel of a gun and where you occasional hear the "n" word being thrown around. Even if people here do support it, they don't talk about due to fear of being ridicule by others, so to me, it was great seeing people actually take a stand and say what they believe without caring what others would think, even if it's coping a red = on a social media site. Don't try to say something won't help when you don't know everyone's situation, because there's kids and adults alike that have it way worse than me, and them just seeing that someone cares might actually help them get through the day. You would be surprised at how much something as simple as this could help someone.

:) Yeah this is kind of what my friends have been talking about, both on Facebook and in real life. Even though just changing your FB profile picture isn't that big a deal, when lots of people do it, it shows that they care. I have a couple of gay/bi friends, and they really do appreciate it when we make the effort to show that we care about the cause.

Lately, I've seen a couple people that disapprove of the red equals signs, but honestly, I don't see why they should care. ??? I wish people would just learn to be accepting already! Speaking as an American, America's gone through way too many periods of hate / discrimination, (women, african americans, asians, irish, gays, etc.) throughout history, and I wish people would just stop their "traditional" backwards way of thinking and just move on. Not knocking on religion, but some of the interviews that I see (mostly from Tumblr) with super religious people are just kind of sickening. There was one (somewhere I'll find the link) that was just disgusting and full of backpeddling from the hater. :(

 

[hathater]

Well my profile picture has been the stupid equals sign for a day or two now, and I must say that I really did just think that the equal sign was a sign of support for the LGBT community and had no knowledge of the shortcomings (or existence of) the HRC. Still, I'm not going to change it. It isn't "slacktivism" if it actually DOES accomplish something, which it does. In Kony 2012, literally nothing was solved by that stupid movement, and any "positive" effort made went towards funding an equally morally questionable resistance army. The equals sign is a show of support for people on my Facebook that I may or may not know are gay, to let them know that I still accept them as people and that I'm on their side. It's easier being gay than it used to be, but it's still not easy, especially in the southern United States. Obviously this has 0 impact on the eventual decision from the Supreme Court, but I want the gay people in my life to see the whole slew of equal signs and know that it's getting better.

And in regards to the whole '(BAN ME PLEASE)' thing and talking about how straight everybody is, I think what everybody's trying to get at is that you don't have the right to tell somebody what should or what should not offend them. You can think that them being offended by something is stupid, and, certainly, I do think that being offended by a word is stupid, but at the end of the day, I understand why it offends some people to be called a (BAN ME PLEASE). It's really easy for me to think that's stupid, because I'm a straight white male and I haven't had to deal with any of this discrimination shit before.

Well, I think kony2012 was made because they found oil in uganda. That what they were trying to do, not very nice i would say, but oil is important?

 

[Every1XplodeNOW]

Thanks y'all for the support, I greatly appreciate it. :)

Also, I like how DM can condense my point into like 2 sentences and make it sound better, lol.

 

[Gerard]

I actually thank this movement since thanks to it I manage to get a date this Friday :3

 

[capefeather]

how did I miss this thread

vader that's more than 2 lines you're doing it wrong

functions want equality too, you know

Also the link underlining in the forum thread list made it look like the thread name has three lines. I thought it was Chinese or something (I'm not just saying that, I know three horizontal lines means 3).

That's just it, there is no definite problem with it. The issue really is that it's more of a silent protest compared to a full out riot that it should be.

Problem is most people who participate in these are powerless to do much more. It's like expecting an average sports fan to go out onto the field and play for the team. You decry people for being too lazy to do much more, and I agree that people should be passing links and such, but this is still a step in the right direction, and I'm not sure that petitions would actually be more effective. Besides, if we were to decry each other for "laziness" then we have a LOT more to complain about. Everybody is lazy in some way, so I find it incredibly hypocritical when one person calls another lazy.

So peer pressure and mob mentality are good things now?

Honestly, peer pressure is pretty much how everything works. The powerful use it all the time for their own purposes. It's merely a technique, and it's one that we use subconsciously anyway.

 

[Soul Fly]