George Floyd and jumping on the BLM trend

I don't think there's anything that I need to say about the video of George Floyd's murder that hasn't already been said. 

The footage showing Floyd being slowly murdered by apathetic police officers is horrifying and I see no way that anyone could see that video and then reasonably defend the actions of the police officers.

Anyone reading this post now should be fully aware that I'm not alone; large protests have erupted across the world in spite of the pandemic, and a firestorm has started over social media; wherever you look online now you're bound to find millions of people showing their solidarity for George Floyd.

Now, my own reaction to this has changed overtime. At first I was worried that this whole situation was just going to turn into another case of temporary outrage. Everyone will go ahead and publicly post their outrage on social media before returning to business as usual a few days later and forgetting about the whole thing. However, I believe that the past few days have shown that this is more than just another incident that people will get temporarily outraged over. From what I've seen, it looks like this is going to really strengthen the BLM movement going forward.

And to be clear, I think that is a good thing.

Something I can't overlook though, is the frustrating ways I've seen other people reacting.  I've seen many people attacking others showing solidarity on social media by claiming that they're not truly committed to the cause and they're just jumping on a social media trend. Too many people have been going around suddenly declaring themselves experts on the issue and demanding that everyone else go out and educate themselves before posting anything. Then on the other side, you have people going around shaming their friends because they haven't explicitly posted something showing their support on social media.

So I want to make something very clear to all these different groups. None of you are aiding the cause by attacking people on your own side.

Is it true that some people are only posting their anger online to fit in with the current social media trend?

Yes, people like this definitely exist, and I think it's wrong for them to use this movement solely to boost their social standing, however at worst these people are doing nothing more than bringing the causes attention to whoever follows them. With any movement that gets large enough, it's inevitable that the level of dedication across your supporters will vary. But, there is such a thing as strength in numbers, and public pressure has already been successful in arresting the police officers who murdered George Floyd and then upgrading the sentence of the main perpetrator from 3rd degree murder to 2nd degree murder.

So to all those self-declared experts on the issue, remember that these people are your allies; going around questioning the loyalty of the very people who are aiding the same cause as you is more likely to alienate them away from your movement and fracture the group.

The same applies to those who have been going around shaming anyone who hasn't been explicitly posting their support for the movement all over social media. You can't complain about the movement just being turned into a social media trend and then go shame people for not showing their support on Instagram. You're only encouraging the very thing you're complaining about. 

Furthermore, some people don't use social media that often, for all you know, the person you've just shamed for not throwing up posts on their story has been dedicated to the cause longer than you have and has actually taken more practical steps than just raising awareness online.

Of course, I understand why so many people are angry right now and to all those angry people, maybe take some comfort in the fact that what the BLM movement is doing is working, even if progress doesn't seem apparent at first. (See the video below) 

Channelling that anger into your movement can be a good thing, but it can also be incredibly self-destructive if you use to turn off all the people who would normally support your movement anyway. The whole point of social justice movements like this should be unity, there's no need to stoke the flames in a house that's already on fire.