Slacktivist/clicktivist

slacktivist: sostantivo numerabile

slacktivism: sostantivo non numerabile

clicktivist: sostantivo numerabile

clicktivism: sostantivo non numerabile

You can say I’ve moved beyond slacktivism and more into activism, but without getting involved originally as a slacktivist, I never would’ve take the first step to becoming more of an activist.

The effectiveness of “clicktivism“, which also includes people supporting charities by liking them on Facebook, has been criticised by politicians and charity ambassadors.

It’s so easy to sit back and be a clicktivist and at the end of the day the charities will benefit but are we just becoming lazy?

Ebbene sì, lo confesso, sono una slacktivist. Sapete come funziona: mi arriva una mail o un link su Facebook, di solito da amici o da un’organizzazione promotrice di campagne e petizioni, in cui mi si chiede di ‘agire ora’ e sostenere una buona causa. Certe le ignoro, ma quelle che mi invitano ad appoggiare qualcosa che mi sta a cuore vanno a segno: firmo la petizione, oppure mando una mail ad un governo straniero (riguardo, che so, un prigioniero per motivi di opinione) e magari condivido il link sui social network. Poi riprendo a fare quello che stavo facendo, ma con l’impressione di aver contribuito, nel mio piccolo, a impedire che si commetta un’ingiustizia o a cambiare uno stato di cose.

Però è un po’ troppo comodo… Se davvero mi stessero a cuore quelle cause sarei un’attivista militante, andrei a protestare fuori da un’ambasciata o a sfilare in corteo, dedicherei parte del mio tempo a raccogliere fondi, per esempio. E visto che non faccio niente di ciò mi merito l’appellativo di slacktivist. Lo slacktivism (attivismo per pigri, o per svogliati, se preferite) è figlio dell’era digitale. Oggi è facilissimo firmare una petizione, non devi neanche avere una penna a portata di mano. Ma quel senso di autocompiacimento nell’aver dato il mio contributo a una buona causa lascia presto il posto all’amara realizzazione che potrei fare di più. Ok, vado a tirar fuori lo striscione.

Origini del termine

Slacktivist e slacktivism sono fusioni, ottenute combinando slacker, il fannullone per scelta, e activist/activism. Pare che il termine slacktivism sia stato coniato a metà degli anni Novanta, per indicare il sostenere una causa in modi non tradizionali, e non avesse alcuna connotazione negativa. Anche clicktivism e clicktivist, termini percepiti come più neutri, descrivono fenomeni di attivismo da poltrona.

slacktivist: countable noun

slacktivism: uncountable noun

clicktivist: countable noun

clicktivism: uncountable noun

 

You can say I’ve moved beyond slacktivism and more into activism, but without getting involved originally as a slacktivist, I never would’ve take the first step to becoming more of an activist.

The effectiveness of “clicktivism“, which also includes people supporting charities by liking them on Facebook, has been criticised by politicians and charity ambassadors.

It’s so easy to sit back and be a clicktivist and at the end of the day the charities will benefit but are we just becoming lazy?

 

All right, I confess, I’m a bit of a slacktivist myself. The way it works is this. An email pops into my inbox or a link appears on my Facebook page, either from a campaigning organization or from a friend, asking me to ‘take action’ in support of some good cause or other. Some I ignore, but if I agree with the cause (and often I do) I take the action requested: signing a petition, emailing a foreign government about a prisoner of conscience, sharing a link with friends on social media. And as I get on with my work I feel that – perhaps – I have done a little tiny bit to try and ameliorate an injustice or bring about a change I believe in.

But it’s just too easy. If I really believed in these causes I’d be campaigning for them actively in a way that takes more than a few seconds: protesting outside an embassy, marching in the streets, fundraising, giving my time. The fact that I don’t do these things makes me a slacktivist. Slacktivism is a product of the digital age. It’s just so easy these days to sign a petition or click on ‘like’ ‘share’ or ‘tweet’ – you don’t even have to get your pen out. But the glow of satisfaction at having made a small gesture for something you believe in soon fades, to be replaced by a nagging sense that you should be doing more. Now where did I put that banner?

 

Origin

 

Slacktivist and slacktivism are blends of the noun slacker, meaning a person who chooses to be idle, and activist/activism. The term slacktivism seems to have been coined in the mid 1990s, to indicate someone who supports causes in ways that differ from traditional ones, and did not initially have the negative connotations it later acquired. A similar process gave rise to clicktivism and clicktivist, which are more neutral terms for the same phenomenon.

WordWatch è l'osservatorio sui neologismi della lingua inglese curato dalla redazione del dizionario Ragazzini.

A cura di Liz Potter