"P" for "Pictivism"

Pictivism is activism in the form of pictures. This article on pictivism motivated me to write my post. You all know about pictivists. Many people change their profile picture to support few causes , to condemn social atrocities , inequalities so on so forth. Among them very few actually travel that extra mile and do some thing in reality to support their cause. Rest all are just arm chair activists. You may question me aren't bloggers and few authors the same ? My argument is bloggers and authors write some thing in the hope to bring a change. They try to imbibe hope in to commoners and also they hope that by reading their works may be some polluted brains may actually get cleansed. It's a different issue that many mavericks actually attack the bloggers thinking the article is written only about them.

There are few bloggers and facebook users who actually condemn anyone and anything with out actually understanding why and what they are doing. I mean there should be some motive behind the reaction but some times I just see that they are kick started and they go on with their mud slinging and bashing till they get zero reaction. For every action there should be equal and only equal reaction is many people's motto. If some one disagrees to what they say and make their point intelligently they may either stick to their opinions nonchalantly or delete the comment or delete the post or the person:-) 

People make some symbol as their profile pic so as to support a cause. We all know what the pic is for but I always feel lost thinking what help is this gonna do ? The likes on the pic are more funny to me. It looks like they are all nodding their heads and supporting the same cause. Lets believe that a popular person has changed the profile pic to a black dot opposing the frequent crimes of molestation and rape and all his followers and friends follow suit and do the same. By the end of the day there are many black dots all over facebook but I fail to understand their use. If 100 dots bring a change as small as a dot(.) we can expect the down fall of crime even if there won't be any full stop, but I don't see that happening. I am sure the whole country is getting united to protest. The crowd at India Gate was a live proof post that dreadful night's sick-to-the -gut crime. I doubt if each and every one who uploaded the black dot profile pic really thought of doing some thing which can actually bring the change. I know this is a sensitive topic to discuss but I have seen many who simply uploaded the pic and then replied to others who asked what is it for ? with a crisp - In the support of the Delhi girl and then just changed it a week later. 

Nirbhaya died fighting. Neither the protests nor the dots saved her and the trial is still going on in court. 

I agree to the pic and what ever is written on it but I really am clueless as to how beneficial pictivism is. I even got requests to change the profile pic so as to support causes. I too signed petitions for the speedy punishment. I signed many pleas to hang the criminals but I just couldn't make the black dot my profile picture. What has happened has already happened and is happening frequently. I couldn't show my disgust in the form of a display pic. I wrote many articles for magazines and many posts on my blog but at one point of time I felt like an arm chair activist myself. The girl died on the day we were vacating Delhi. I couldn't pack my bags. Like many I was also badly effected. It seemed like she was sent to Singapore to reduce the outrage in the country :( Every one at airport was discussing the same that evening. I was numb. Many were feverishly updating statuses and pics again . Call me callous. I didn't feel like doing that or replying to those who did. I just prayed silently and tried to keep my calm. I was happy when Ram Singh committed suicide in Tihar jail. He did what court and law couldn't do. The trial is still going on in the court and the profile pics are now changed to marriage equality by many!

Marriage equality is a protest where people are fighting for marriages with in the same sex.

Marriage Equality Law now allows same-sex couples the opportunity to order their surnames on child identification papers. The law also raises the legal age of consent to 16, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/uruguay-legalizes-marriage-equality-the-drama-free-way.html#ixzz2QQyJy3aa. When many changed their profile pictures I had to actually dig and read the news. I am neither opposing nor supporting it. I am just neutral to the change. If it happens , it happens. Ya it will definitely provide comfort to many people who actually want to lead a normal social life. Hence it looks fair enough but still I couldn't push my self to change my profile pic to the below red equal symbol.

Facebook actually provided us with interesting statistics that 2.7 million people showed their support to marriage equality by changing their profile pics. For more read- "here"  The below pic shows the astounding response world wide.

The statistics in a way was helpful as the no. of people who are actually in favor of the change can be tracked. My problem here is all others who did not update their display pics might not be actually opposing the change. Some might be just like me where as some might even have facebook banned in their cities and respective countries. So I cannot accept facebook data as the whole and sole statistical proof but ya as we see that many are supporting  may be it can help in this case. 

Tomorrow some other cause comes up and some other atrocity happens and people will be all set to change their profile pics and those who don't change the pic like me are not the one's who are against the change ! It simply means they are not changing the display pic.

I can show my support by sharing the articles , news or my write ups or by actually doing some thing in real however small or big the task may be but I cannot really change the pic. It doesn't make me emotional and it doesn't seem useful to me. This post is not to offend the users who have changed the pics. I understand many are genuinely feeling bad but I just want to say I am not in to pictivism. What do you think ? Does pictivism help ?

While you are here do check this interesting " Facebook Doppleganger week event". One more crazy event for all the online dwellers :)

Doppelganger week, the first week of February, is an internet meme whereby users of social networking websites change their profile pictures to that of celebrities with whom they share appearance traits.The meme started in 2010 (source : "Wiki")

Have a great day!

This is my 16th post for  "A to Z blogging Challenge 2013" !