I use Facebook. Really, who doesn't these days? My mother has a Facebook account, and she is probably the most disconnected person I know, other than my father, who is in sucha drug-induced haze that I'm not even sure he knows my name when I go to see him most of the time. I love Facebook. I love the freedom it grants me to exchange ideas, and to meet new people, and to keep tabs on the lives of friends, and family all over the world. I love multiple aspects of Facebook. Sure, I may not be addicted to Farmville, like some people I know. I may not upload 80 photos every afternoon, and I may not respond to every tag I get in a given note, but I still appreciate and admire Facebook for what it is, a social networking site, the likes of which have far surpassed previous incarnations of such, including LinkedIn, Friendster, Myspace and Livejournal. Shut your face right now dammit, You had a livejournal, don't even try to act like you didn't. The only online journal that has zero stigma is KillingMachines, and you weren't cool enough to have one, so just shut your face and deal with the fact that I just dissed LJ. By the by, I had an LJ too, it hasn't been updated in about two years, and even then it was rarely paid attention to.
There is a disturbing trend on Facebook though that I am starting to find even more obnoxious than requests from my friends to water their plants in Farmville. Changing one's profile picture for a cause. Have you not seen this one? I first saw it about eight months ago, it seemed like a passing fad, and of my ~300 friends, only a handful even took part or participated in said activity. It seemed to be an extension of the '99% of people won't repost this because they don't love Jesus' statuses, which I also loathe. Last week though, on December 1, 2010, this status started popping up.
"This week, change your default Facebook picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal? To not see a human face on Facebook until Monday, the 6th of December. Join the fight against child abuse, and invite your friends to do the same."
Don't get me wrong. Child abuse is wrong. Being a recovered victim of abuse myself, I promote healthy relationships regardless of age. I fully support the spirit of this status, what I don't support is how pointless it is. I seems to me like this is a pathetic attempt to make yourself feel better by performing a mundane action that serves to do little more than to clutter up my news feed. Frankly, were I the heartless beast I pretend to be, seeing these statuses clutter my feed would probably prompt me to beat a child just for the sake of solidarity.
How many child abusers did this stop? I'm being serious. How many men and women who beat their kids looked at Facebook in the past five days and said to themselves, "Well, geez, all these cartoons sure are making me not want to get drunk and hit my kids! Thanks Facebook!"
It reminds me of people who dress up for church every Sunday, and perform their religious duties for the sake or forgiveness, only to go home and start the sin-cycle all over again. Sunday Christians are not Christians at all. Likewise, people who take part in these meaningless activities seem laughable to me because they honestly think they're doing something to stop child abuse. I understand the argument that they are raising awareness, but come on people, who in the world isn't aware that children get beat on? Really? You show me a person who doesn't know that children are abused and I will show you a person who just came out of the womb.
I already posted this on my Facebook, but maybe the next time you want to raise awareness, or you want to do something to help combat child abuse, you could do a quick search on google. You could donate to [Child Advocates], [Love Our Children USA] or [Prevent Child Abuse]. There are a number of government websites out there that can connect you with local, national and worldwide organizations that are dedicated to any cause you can imagine. Why don't you stop changing your Facebook picture, get offline and go volunteer at the local women's shelter? Perhaps go to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and apply to be a mentor. There are a thousand things that you can do, including donating your time, and your money to stop child abuse and help those recovering.
Like I said, as a victim of child abuse, I support the theory, not the practice of what you're doing. I myself volunteer when I have the time, and try to make donations yearly to help those in need who happen to be in situations far less comfortable than my own. Hell, I've even been known to open my home, cupboards and arms to people I know need a safe place to be. As a side note, if you know somebody who is living in an abusive household, old, young or in-between, the best thing you can do is report the abuse, and let them know they have a pair of warm arms waiting for them when they're ready to leave.
That is all.
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