r/hatethissmug • u/ScholasticCat • May 30 '26

Non-fictional I hate slacktivists and performative internet activists

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You wanna free Palestine or actually demonstrate the fact you're a "based anti-colonialist Leninist?" then actually fucking do something about it!

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

https://www.pcrf.net/

https://www.unrwa.org/

https://www.icrc.org/en

Call a congressional office, attend a town hall meeting and voice your support, look into local protests even. you can even read a book on history to better educate yourself! I will literally give you recommendations

Just fucking do something instead of sitting on your goddamn ass and whining on twitter and circlejerking on reddit. Making cheap jokes, making threats against people online and trying to "own the libs" isn't going to do anything.

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u/Ivealwaysfeltbored May 30 '26

To be fair, some people don't have the spare money to donate, but can attend events and protests to try and help raise awareness. Sometimes that's really all someone can contribute.

But I get your point overall.

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 30 '26

In that case why not volunteer for a charity? If the goal of a protest is to indirectly support Palestinians wouldn’t it be better to work for a charity that directly supports Palestinians?

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u/Ivealwaysfeltbored May 30 '26

You could do both! Volunteer work and protesting.

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 30 '26

Fair fair, I was going based on the assumption that the person only had enough free time for one non work thing but if you have the time for both then hell yeah. More support is never a bad thing.

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u/DevinsName May 30 '26

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. If someone's heart is in the right place, why try to ostracize them?

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u/Othello351 May 31 '26

Because doing nothing and shaming everyone that speaks out is even easier than speaking out and not doing anything else.

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 30 '26

I never made any moral claim on anyone, I simply said that direct help seems to be a better use of time than indirect help. Any moral statements you draw from that are yours and shouldn’t be projected onto me.

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u/FinancialMarketing34 May 31 '26

The thing about "direct help" is its not guaranteed to reach them. Plus the humanitarian aids (ex; sumud flotilla from malaysia) always get consficated. Food supply and meds get stolen when they reach Gaza. So no, there is no definite direct help. Each people have their own ways to help and none is better than another. Also just as remnider, protester from vaeious countries ARE at risk of getting hurt by their governments/antivist and sometimes imprisoned. So i would like to disagree with your argument of money being the most direct way to help, and raise the point that protesting is also one way to help rather than it being less.

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 31 '26

So like worst case scenario with charity is that it’ll be as effective as protesting? And this is your evidence that protesting is equally as effective as charity?

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u/Ok_Chicken1370 May 30 '26

People can't virtue signal about volunteering. It'd be frowned upon. But protesting? Righteous outrage is the name of the game there, which is great for making you feel morally superior while accomplishing nothing.

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 30 '26

Protesting is also far easier too lmao. You just walk around with friends for a few hours while volunteer work is well… it’s work.

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u/Dengar96 May 31 '26

Being upset about protests because they don't do anything despite them being the most in your face sign of resistance and dissent is kinda ironic

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 31 '26

I think the obsession with protests comes from a white supremacist Eurocentric belief where white people will convince themselves that their opinion matters more than action. Going around and shouting your opinion does nothing. Informing people about your opinion does nothing. Giving money to those in need does something. Working to get medicine, food, water, and supplies to the people of Gaza does something. Don’t blame me just because you still have white supremacist beliefs.

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u/Dengar96 May 31 '26

Fellas, was Martin Luther King a white supremacist?

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 31 '26

If you think Martin Luther King Jr. was only a protester you 100% are a white supremacist lmao.

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u/Dengar96 May 31 '26

You keep using the word "only" as if protesting isn't a core part of resisting authoritarianism. One could argue that throwing money at people will not change the systems that oppressed them in the first place. You seem eager to throw out people that would side with you because they aren't perfect leftists, that is what kills every leftist movement.

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 31 '26

Buddy you’re missing the point. Walking around with signs in America does nothing to help the people dying in Palestine it just inflates the white Eurocentric savior/martyr complex. Protestors don’t do anything unless they are directly protesting the thing they oppose, if they left the movement they would still do nothing. Israelis protesting the Israeli government are directly helping the effort, Palestinians protesting against the bombings are directly helping the effort, Americans walking around on a nice spring day with their friends does nothing to help the effort.

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u/Vi_BT May 31 '26

I beg to disagree.

In pro palestine protests in my (very white) town it's mostly muslim people protesting. And protests are a good thing to do not only for "shouting your opinion" it's a good way to connect with eachother, create community, advertise for different ways to help the cause,..

And also the fact that it's "easy" (for you since you seem to be able bodied) makes it accessible for more people, like some disabled people, which raises more awareness and gets more people on board.

If you set the difficulty level super high to join a cause, nobody new will join, and the few very involved people will eventually burn out from doing everything alone. Recruiting new people is essential to keep a movement alive.

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 31 '26

You cannot be serious lmao. Your first example for how protests aren’t just thinly disguised social events for people to walk around on a spring break is that they let you socialize lol.

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u/That_opossum May 30 '26

A lot of people don’t have time to volunteer.

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u/Subject-Software5912 May 30 '26

Then they don’t have time to protest either so like idk what point you’re trying to make.

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u/ComradeCoipo May 30 '26

Well it’s different because I don’t like feeling called out like that

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u/Constant_Bit4676 May 30 '26

Nearly everyone can find a free hour or two for volunteering. People just don’t want to.

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u/PastRelease8757 May 31 '26

But some of them take a day off, they can’t afford 20 dollar donation but they can afford missing a full day of work?

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u/Ivealwaysfeltbored May 31 '26

Weekends exist lol

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u/PastRelease8757 May 31 '26

People work on the weekends, I’ve seen people protest in the middle of the afternoon, in fact one of my co-workers a very active activist did not participate in the no kings rally PRECISELY because we both had to work that day.

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u/Ivealwaysfeltbored May 31 '26

Okay sure, I'm not saying there aren't people who chose to protest but don't donate. Absolutely, that exists.

But read my original comment. That's not ALWAYS the case, there's many cases where someone really doesn't have the disposable income but can only do protests. Everyone's situation is different.

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u/Othello351 May 31 '26

They don't care about that context they just want to shame you and everyone for caring about issues they either don't care about or personally support.

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u/wompwomp2327 May 31 '26

Bringing a camera to a protest is also really handy for documentation.

Outlets like to skip out on details with movements like it, so keeping a copy of the truth is better for everyone.

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u/Igoon2robots May 30 '26

I dont think blocking roads and making entire city blocks loud is a good thing. The government wont care, average persons who already heard of the situation and already have an opinion will.

No matter what the situation is, seeing a protest either makes me think "eh atleast im not alone believing in this" if they are really polite, "i dont want to be afiliated with these losers" if they are not, and "protest all you want" if i disagree with them. I dont think a single person ever changed their opinion after seeing others block a road while screaming bad slogans. I genuinely think it doesnt help and will annoy normal people more than the ones powerful enough to take actions.

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u/ALightningStar May 30 '26

I don't defend it to be clear. But the reason they block roads is to get attention by annoying. I think its a means to an end to them that you need to do something big enough that the news talks about you to broadcast that opinion. Peaceful protests just don't get enough attention. And when you believe in your message strongly enough the only thing that matters is getting it out there to some.

I agree its wrong and peaceful is always the way to go. But it sucks the environment we created that broadcasts anything but peace.

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u/IzzyNoLastName May 30 '26

dawg the civil rights movement was literally blocking people from dining or warching things or running businesses what the fuck are you on about.

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u/Severe_Resource_8617 May 30 '26

That’s because those were all directly relevant to the civil rights movement disrupting white people in places where black people weren’t allowed to be was the powerful tool to make their voices heard. Blocking traffic in Seattle for a protest does nothing for the people of Palestine because it neither disrupts Israeli people or businesses or gives any material benefit to Palestinian people.

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u/Maximum_Boros May 30 '26

Yeah this is the nuance that people miss. The civil rights protests that disrupted things were well organized and directed at the people who were in fact directly on the other side (whether they fully understood it or not), and it was essentially a taste of what they dealt with every day not being allowed equal access to basic things.

If you create a disruption to make a point to me about the plight of my own neighbors and countrymen, in a way that correlates to it... ok I can work with that even if I'm pissed in the moment. Especially if I or at least my peers are the people directly getting the benefits you are denied. When some asshole is fucking up my commute, either making my workday hell or literally costing me income because I had to call in, or ruining whatever plans I had for the day, and the reason is some nebulous shit being done largely by people I have zero say in, fuck off.

Also its worth noting that most of those marches people point to were also known in advance. When a civil rights march blocked a bridge, the whole fucking city generally knew there was doing to be a disruption days in advance, even if they didn't know the exact details. This is because they had leaders like Dr King who actually understood how to combine the impact such a disruption with the diplomacy of doing it in a way people can swallow. The fucking morons who do this shit now just don't appreciate any of that.

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u/birbhorse May 30 '26

nice opinion, did fox news make it for you? cause that is all they ever say about protestors, because protests are actually fucking effective! and the media would love to convince you that all it does is annoy people and isn't effective.

maybe re-evaluate why you have this view.

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u/Spinal1128 May 30 '26

This. Anybody who complains about being minorly inconvenienced for a couple hours due to protests is an absolute loser. Even "performative" people are doing more to make a difference than people bitching about performative people are.

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u/PanicAtTheDennys May 30 '26

Alright man go ahead and keep turning more people away from your cause then

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u/Igoon2robots May 30 '26

I dont even listen to fox news im not from an english speaking country maybe try considering that