Alright, so it's kind of sad and probably one of the least effective mechanisms for social change, but I can't help it. I like to think it makes a difference.
I've changed my Facebook profile picture to the anti-Olympic rings of interlocked handcuffs. I like it. It makes it's point.1
I'm interested in the ways in which the internet can be used for activism. The profile-picture thing really isn't very revolutionary2, but it is a way of quickly showing solidarity. I've seen it crop up as a prequel to Earth Hour, following the Iranian elections, and during the Copenhagen climate conference fail.3
Profile pictures define who we are on the internet. They are often the most immediate representation of ourselves there is. We are recognized by them. So in a way, changing them to something political is a way of putting a cause before ourselves- defining ourselves by what we believe in instead of what we look like.
I don't know. It's better than doing nothing, right?
1 The point that I've fucking had it with the Olympic corporate circus and need some passive-aggressive indirect way of responding to the FB status updates of friends, such as "OMG can't wait to be at the olympics!!" Eughhh.
2 It's the same sort of feel-good inactivism that comes from composting to save the planet. An action that is purely symbolic, self-fulfilling, and irrelevant in the big picture.
3 And also during 'Favorite Pokemon Month'. But that isn't really part of a global struggle (unless you're using Kirby, in which case you simply just fail.)
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