Women's Day and the Power of the Internet

Today is International Women's Day. We don't celebrate it in the US. I compared it to Mother's Day for those of my colleagues that asked today. Women are presented with flowers, candies, or small gifts given to show appreciation. Out teacher's lounge smelled like a greenhouse and looked a lot like one too.

We had a nice luncheon at the high school to celebrate and I got to have a half-Romanian, half-English conversation with the six-year-old granddaughter of my friend, the librarian. (I teach my classes in the library, so we have become friends.)

The flowers and celebratory feelings were a wonderful reminder that spring is right around the corner even though there is still snow on the ground.

Also today, I had a few conversations about the power of the internet in light of the recent social media fervor surrounding Invisible Children's Stop Kony campaign. Mostly we are looking at the issue as a potential teaching topic by relating the video depicting the atrocities Kony and his army are waging in Sub-Saharan Africa with issues also relevant in Romania, like child sex-trafficking.

I am, as of yet, unconvinced of the effectiveness viral campaigns will have on political outcomes. Unlike many other Americans, I have been aware of Kony and the Invisible Children since 2006 when some of the former child-soldiers came and spoke at my college. There are so many things going on in the world that we, as Americans, don't ever consider in our day-to-day lives.

I hope that an internet awareness campaign of this magnitude can put pressure on politicians to pursue certain policies, but I am skeptical of how long public pressure will last. The internet today allows us answers automatically and as a result, our attention spans have decreased dramatically. Unfortunately, I am afraid that once most people post a message on Twitter or a link on Facebook, they will feel that have done their part. I hope to be proven wrong over the next few weeks, and their is widespread public pressure for the US and other governments to continue to pursue Kony.

Another concern I have with this type of viral campaign is that when we paint one man as "the bad guy," which Kony most certainly is, most people tend to forget to look out for other potential negatives coming in to fill the gaps. Kony is not the only problem and not the only issue that deserves to get so much attention. No matter what Rihanna has to tweet about the topic.

I sincerely hope that this first venture into organized social media campaigning for political outcomes results in a model that can be molded to bring awareness, action, and accountability to governments and the public alike.