An Interesting Look at the Social Justice Slideshows of Instagram
Despite its perceived superficiality, I learned a lot from many of Instagram's "slide-shows". Recently Vox took a thorough look at this latest form of activism.
Bottom line: Generally, Instagram-slideshows advocate for legit causes. However, due to their appealing aesthetics and viral potential, they can also run the danger to become sources of fake news and misinformation.
A good rule of thumb is to check whether the slideshow comes with cited sources at the end - and also to check these sources.
Also, it's easy to fool ourselves into thinking we did enough because we read, liked, or shared an educational post. Instead of using it as our #1 news source, however, it makes sense to use these graphics as a launchpad and do our own research on the topic, as the article points out.
Here are my favorite educational Instagram posts from the past months:
- Presenting Anti-Romani (Antiziganism) Sentiment in the Balkans and Why It Needs to Stop by @balkanism__
- Internalized Capitalism - Hustle Culture and Workaholism by @berfin.marx
- The Winners and the Losers of this Pandemic by @berfin.marx
- Abortions: Fact vs. Myth by @globalreform
- How Patriarchy is Killing Men by @berfin.marx
- Billionaires Shouldn't Exist by @emilyisliving