Anyone change their Facebook profile pic to a cartoon character yet?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Not sure how changing a pic and not donating can do any harm.

Because changing a profile picture counts the same as doing nothing.

The harm comes from the fact that 99% of the people who take part in this convince themselves that they are helping the cause by simply changing their picture.

Instead of being encouraged to take an active role in raising funds and volunteer time for this issue, you are implying that doing nothing of value actually accomplishes something. That is the harm you cause.

The 1% who actually do something useful deserve to be commended. The rest of the sheep should take a look in the mirror.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Because changing a profile picture counts the same as doing nothing.

The harm comes from the fact that 99% of the people who take part in this convince themselves that they are helping the cause by simply changing their picture.

Instead of being encouraged to take an active role in raising funds and volunteer time for this issue, you are implying that doing nothing of value actually accomplishes something. That is the harm you cause.

The 1% who actually do something useful deserve to be commended. The rest of the sheep should take a look in the mirror.

The sad thing is that the people who actually do something tangible, generally do it out of the goodness of their hearts and therefore aren't interested in drawing attention to themselves. Meanwhile, the clowns whose sole goals are to "raise awareness" are usually the ones trying to draw the most attention to themselves.

[Igottago]

Lets face it, the reason its annoying, much like most of facebook, is because it becomes the thing to do -- the cause has little to do with it. Facebook -- the place where millions of individuals express their individuality in exactly the same way. Call me a cynic or whatever but having a whole bunch of low attention span facebook addicts change their profile pics for a cause (until the next fad comes along) isn't really the most revolutionary thing in the world. Its just another reason to have your peers view your profile (Hey look, Billy's got a character from Thundercats on his profile - I've got to "like" his picture so he talks to me at school tomorrow!!").

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I've been checking this thread during study breaks today.

A few things seemed to have come out:

1- Why not change your picture? It doesn't do any harm.

As stated about, it doesn't do any good either. Think about it, seeing cartoons isn't going to make an abuser stop. At the same time if children saw how many people out there would support them in taking a stand against child abuse maybe they'd speak up. Which would be fantastic! However how many children have facebook? The target demographic is one of the smallest on facebook, it's not a proper platform.


2- Why the hate for this and not others, like colour of bra and where to put your purse?

I have three theories, the first is that this "campaign" is the straw that brakes the camel's back. You can only take so much slacktivism before you can't take it anymore.

The second, the is the cartoon character "campaign" isn't sexual in nature. Sex sells, and frankly thinking about the hot chick on your facebook friends list in a purple bra is awesome, when she says she likes it on the kitchen counter it's kinky. When her display picture is not of her in a bikini but Rainbow Bright suddenly people aren't quite a fan.

The third, this "campaign" is about child abuse, it's about a segment of the population that can't defend themselves, and people are passively doing nothing in the name of helping? That just doesn't seem right. It strikes a stronger chord because children are the most helpless to begin with, add to the fact that you have children being abused, who is supposed to stand up for these kids? GI Joe, Optimus Prime? Kids today think they're live action people or CGI in a live action film, not a cartoon character; even if it was identifiable to them, the choice of cartoons from when adults were kids again misses the target demographic of children.


3 - What if this encourages one person to do something, that's better than nothing.

Encouragement should come from momentum. Person one donates, changes picture, person two does the same, then three, then four. I don't buy the 1000 people changing their display picture, with one donating to a charity to help fight child abuse, and we're all winners. Success? No, fail.



One person commented on a friend of mine's status about two of us lashing out over slacktivism (I'll put in point form)

- it's to raise awareness of the problem & acknowledgement of a problem
who here doesn't think child abuse is a problem & acknowledge as such?

- it's better to do this than complain about trivial stuff
actually trivializing child abuse by changing your display picture saying you're making a difference is indeed worse

- to each their own, if you don't like it delete people or ignore it
what about to the each that believes in hitting children? If don't like it, ignore it? Woah, wrong idea, actually do something to help.

Perhaps part of the backlash is coming from people saying "this doesn't do anything, donate to a cause as well" with people saying "f-that, we're having fun". Making the anti-slacktivists' blood boil, and rightfully so.

As a final thought, why haven't I seen a definition of child abuse? Is spanking a child abuse? Is putting soap in their mouth when they say a bad word? What about psychological abuse? Putting them in a cold shower? How are children supposed to know what exactly child abuse is? Is Jem going to tell them? And if Jem was going to tell them, the kids would be too busy asking "who the H-E-double hockey sticks are you?"

[Yeah_Baby]

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! WE DID IT!

[The Goon]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Slacktivism is all about giving yourself fellatio.

Sign me up! I thought I was going to have to remove a couple of ribs.

[HPLovecraft]

What is this "awareness" people keep mentioning, anyway? Are there really people out there that aren't aware that kids get abused? Who are these people and why don't they already know this?

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by c.t.ner

I'm on the fence with this whole campaign and I'm also on the fence with the concept of slacktivism in general.

But I do have a question for people in general, why does there seam to be more outrage towards this campaign than to other FaceBook campaigns? (This is just based on the 5 people on my own personal wall who have slammed the concept openly) I'm just curious, because I'm sure most people remember the "Bra Colour" campaign earlier this year, but yet nobody was willing to openly slam that concept.

Why is it that one campaign is okay and fun, while another seemingly similar campaign is offensive. I'm just curious.

Ermm, the bra color got blasted pretty harshly on CP too. I'm guessing because breast cancer has affected a lot more people than child abuse (although both are serious problems).

Here's the thread: http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...facebook+color

Btw, I was wondering how people felt about Movember. I did it myself, even though in all seriousness I hadn't given a crap about prostate cancer all my life. I raised quite a bit of money and donated personally, but in all honesty it was mostly paying for the privilege of having a little fun with the guys at work. I remember the G&M had an article blasting the concept of Movember and how it was slacktivism, just because of guys like me that generally think of it as a fun thing rather than a prostate cancer thing even though it raised a ton of money.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

All that really matters when a campaign like this is undertaken is

A) Did it raise more money for groups addressing child abuse than would otherwise have been donated

and more importantly

B) Did it reduce child abuse (either directly or through 'A')

Without data to examine either of these questions...who knows whether this is a good idea or not?

[sa226]

I just changed mine because I think everybody should be made aware that Pinky and the Brain is the best cartoon in the history of television.

I also think "campaigns" like this are a little silly. It happens all of the time though from Facebook to Twitter to stupid chain e-mails. I am not going to bother tearing into people just because they want to change their profile pic, good grief.

If people think they are truly making a difference by doing this, then yes they might be delusional.

Does this opinion make me a "slacktivist"? I don't know, I don't really care. I donate to certain causes at random times and I am sure that I could do a heck of a lot more and I plan to.

But getting all up in arms because of some silly Facebook "campaign" is kinda trivial to me.

Maybe it is a sign of an apathetic society, maybe too many people are "Slacktivists"

But I doubt many people will donate out of spite for those who attacked them for changing their profile pic.

[nickerjones]

This was just sent in a message to me : ( dunno if it was already posted in the thread)
"It turns out that the group asking everyone to change their profile picture to their favorite cartoon characters is actually a group of pedophiles. They're doing it because kids will accept their friend requests faster if they see a cartoon picture. It has nothing to do with... supporting child violence ..it was on a tv show and tonights news ...please copy and paste now!!"

[Torture]

Originally Posted by nickerjones

This was just sent in a message to me : ( dunno if it was already posted in the thread)
"It turns out that the group asking everyone to change their profile picture to their favorite cartoon characters is actually a group of pedophiles. They're doing it because kids will accept their friend requests faster if they see a cartoon picture. It has nothing to do with... supporting child violence ..it was on a tv show and tonights news ...please copy and paste now!!"

Please forward to 10 friends or Facebook will be taken down!!!111

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by sa226

I also think "campaigns" like this are a little silly. It happens all of the time though from Facebook to Twitter to stupid chain e-mails. I am not going to bother tearing into people just because they want to change their profile pic, good grief.

If people think they are truly making a difference by doing this, then yes they might be delusional.

Does this opinion make me a "slacktivist"? I don't know, I don't really care. I donate to certain causes at random times and I am sure that I could do a heck of a lot more and I plan to.

But getting all up in arms because of some silly Facebook "campaign" is kinda trivial to me.

Maybe it is a sign of an apathetic society, maybe too many people are "Slacktivists"

Maybe it's a sign of an apathetic society when anyone who doesn't support a campaign like this is accused of being "up in arms" or "tearing into people". You're either apathetic or labeled as too serious if you state an opinion on it.

Most people who don't like the campaign are not making a huge deal about it, but having an opinion and not just doing whatever everyone else is gets you labeled as a prude with a stick up yours.

[sa226]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Maybe it's a sign of an apathetic society when anyone who doesn't support a campaign like this is accused of being "up in arms" or "tearing into people". You're either apathetic or labeled as too serious if you state an opinion on it.

Most people who don't like the campaign are not making a huge deal about it, but having an opinion and not just doing whatever everyone else is gets you labeled as a prude with a stick up yours.

Fair enough,

I'm not sure if you are cleverly painting me with a broad paint brush to illustrate your point that I am painting everybody who is opposed to the campaign with the same brush.

That was not my point. I have no issue with people saying they are opposed to the campaign. I guess if I had to take a side I would say I'm opposed to it as well (even though I changed my pic) My point was that I think it is silly to even take a hard line on any side in the first place.

I think child abuse is abhorrent, I'm sure everybody else does too.

I guess only the OP can say if his original intent was to generate a discussion on how facebook campaigns are the brain child of "slacktivists"

Just my opinion

[Cheerio]

I don't get why you guys are getting so worked up about this. I think its just a little bit of fun, I like seeing which cartoons people watched as a child so I can judge them appropriately.

[ResAlien]

It's less than an hour until child abuse has been stamped out completely. You all need to relax.

[BBQorMILDEW]

I can't wait to start beating my kids again..

Damn you facebook!!

[OutOfTheCube]

My status:

So you're supposed to make your profile pic something from a cartoon to support orphans or whatever... awesome excuse to have Optimus Primal as my profile pic!


At least I'm honest.

[The Yen Man]

I've don't understand this campaign at all. Were people not aware that child abuse exists in the first place? Shouldn't we be campaigning on possible solutions rather than lack of awareness?

I mean, cancer awareness I can sort of understand, since it might get people thinking of going for regular checks.

Awareness for child abuse is a pointless, IMO. I'm guessing we're going to have "change your avatar to your favorite food item!" next for world hunger awareness?

[GirlySports]

[QUOTE=The Yen Man;2826844]I've don't understand this campaign at all. Were people not aware that child abuse exists in the first place? Shouldn't we be campaigning on possible solutions rather than lack of awareness?

I mean, cancer awareness I can sort of understand, since it might get people thinking of going for regular checks.

Awareness for child abuse is a pointless, IMO. I'm guessing we're going to have "change your avatar to your favorite food item!" next for world hunger awareness?[/QUOTE]


DO IT!