10 Membranes

» Join the Internet Blackout

The point at which grass roots social justice movement merges into classic web meme. It’s a good cause no doubt. The New Zealand government wants to shut down websites based on simply the suspicion that copyright infringement is taking place e.g. forget presumption of innocence and any other procedural norms for the dispensation of justice. What slightly gets me about the protest is that it smacks of the faddish and the ephemeral- one day it’s #frylift and donk, the next it’s blacking out your twitter image. There is also something futile in it, a hopeless and near superficial gesturing without full commitment. At what stage are people going to repost their images?

Maybe I am just being a reactionary and sourfaced harrumpher. I guess what I am saying is this: I signed the petition, but I’m not blacking out my images, largely because of the meme element behind the protest (which is of course where it draws its power).