I’m generally opposed to slacktivism, but I’m participating in this. I want those on my list who are opposed to gay marriage to realise how widespread support for it really is. I also want my GLBT friends to know I feel strongly about this issue, and to see how widespread support for it is. I don’t believe my FB icon will make a difference to the outcome; this is just a show of numbers for the consideration of those opposed to GLBT equality. I like to think it reinforces the message that history will judge them harshly.
I just posted a giant greater-than sign, because I’m a smart-ass, and all my Facebook friends know that.
I’m pretty sure almost no one thinks they’re affecting change by changing their profile pic, so the “Pfft, slactktivism!” or “I’m sure the Supreme Court will check to see how many people changed their profile pic before deciding” memes are unfounded. I didn’t change my pic because I’m lazy, and anyone that’s friends with me on FB knows I’m in support of equality, but it’s a way to show support to friends and family who are affected by this. It’s a “hey look, I’m on your side” show of support that I think is sweet.
My feeling as well. I’m heavily active in this cause, both online and offline, and my feeling is that it does no harm, and possibly quite a bit of good, for people who are on the fence about gay rights to see a passel of their friends and loved ones supporting it.
Slacktivism doesn’t particularly bother me. Most of the people who participate in it were never going to do any real activism in the first place, so there’s no real loss. To be honest, most of the bitching about slacktivism I hear is from people who want to be holier-than-thou about what they do for the cause or whatever.
AMEN.
What I am or am not doing is absolutely irrelevant, because I’m not the one claiming that changing my facebook profile picture (or adding a bumper sticker to my car, great analogy BTW) is “making a difference.” IT’S NOT. If you want to make a difference, then write your congresspeople or speak out against public homophobia or donate your time/money to LGBT causes or lend your support to an LGBT person close to you or run for public office, or or or. Get off your ass! Even if you’re disabled and homebound, you can still write a letter. And the world doesn’t have to know about it, either. If the only reason you (general) support marriage equality (or any cause) is because you like to trumpet about it online and get a pat on the back, then you’re a pretty shitty excuse for a person.
As to why I care: my younger sister is a lesbian living in Texas. I get pissed at people who pretend their effortless gestures matter to the cause of marriage equality. They don’t. They give bloggers something to talk about and they give people warm fuzzies. Fuck your warm fuzzies, they’re not helping my sister get married any sooner.
Not all of us have echo chamber facebooks.
Nope.
(My bad, I thought we were just denying things baselessly.)
I like to keep my profile picture a picture of me. This helps people to find the correct Kevbo McCommonLastname. There is a MMA fighter who shares my real name (he fights under a pseudonym, but his real name is well known) Even though he is a young black guy, and I am an old white guy, I still get people trying to friend the MMA fighter. I am sure it would be much worse if I used a picture of my extremely cute dog.
Curses to people who have pictures of their grand kids, their cat, their car, themselves 30 years ago…and now pink equals signs. Post those on equalsignbook.
I’m changing my picture for the few days of Supreme Court arguments, which has been the suggestion everywhere I’ve seen it. Pretty sure my friends and family won’t forget who I am in that time. (But yeah, boo to people who always have something that isn’t them. I once nearly sent an invite to a total stranger with my friend’s name - the profile picture of his two little kids looked identical but at the last minute I realized the little girl had the wrong color of eyes. Parents, your kids really aren’t as distinctive-looking as you think…)
You’re right. It is a bit Rothko-esque, isn’t it? Anyhow, here’s what I imagine it would look like as a Rothko. 
(With apologies to the master artist.)
IMO, that is a bit over stated. While the facebook thing isn’t going to drive a sword into discrimination, stating that it isn’t helping at all is not entirely true.
In this very thread, I’ve noted people acknowledging seeing support from friends they would not expect to see such support. This kind of exposure can only help. Also, giving bloggers something to talk about isn’t a bad thing. Again, exposure is good. Getting people to think about gay marriage is a good thing. The more on-the-fence types that see a groundswell of support for gay marriage (ESPECIALLY from their FRIENDS) the better.
That’s awesome. I might make that my new wallpaper.
Feel free. It makes me cringe a little, bastardizing Rothko (whom I love) in such a hand-fisted way. (It’s basically a Photoshop hack job of–crap–I don’t even remember and can’t find the source material. But it’s a Rothko. I really want to smush the two pink bars closer together, but I wanted to keep the design and spacing almost exactly the same as the original logo. I can’t see Rothko leaving such a gulf of space there with two equally sized bars like that.)
OK, it’s my new fb picture. Promoting marriage equality AND abstract art, and still a slacktivist. 
What exactly would you have us do?
I support and vote for public officials who reflect my own point of view with respect to important issues.
I share my beliefs with my friends when the topics arise. I don’t preach much, though.
One April day when I was more than 20 years younger than I am now, I went to DC to be part of a huge rally, though not one related to this particular issue.
All of those are “doing.”
Or by “doing” do you mean contributing cash to some sort of PAC? Taking up arms?
Tell me.
Throwing time and money at causes and writing politicians won’t solve it either. You need momentum in public opinion. These types of “actions” create that. People that may not normally even think about gay marriage *have *been for the past two days. Mainstream news stories were written about this Facebook “action”-- CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo. All of these things create a groundswell of support for gay marriage. It gets it in the public eye more than just boring old news reports from the Supreme Court or state legislature.
But go ahead and keep throwing money at non-profits and letters at politicians. That’s important too. It’s public opinion polls that will move the needle on this issue, however, and slacktism like this does, in fact, help.
If nothing else, it gives closet supporters courage to publicly support it when they see other respected friends and family supporting it. Or fence-sitters the push to pick a side.
Quite right.
I support it, I just haven’t changed the profile picture since I got a FB account and I’m not about to do it now. If I didn’t change it to support kids molested by pedophiles, I’m not changing it to support gays. I just hate changing the picture
I don’t follow your logic. How does the second statement follow the first? The first is absolutely non-controversial. Who doesn’t support kids molested by pedophiles? The second is a bit trickier and divisive in many quarters.
But I do support hating to change the picture. It even took me a little bit to figure out how to do it, because it seems Facebook changes their interface every two minutes.