The Loss of an American Superhero part 2: the Facebook affect

In a world that has rapidly become one big virtual society, filled with people who consider themselves global citizens, the will of Americans to stand up for those who can't has virtually disappeared. The easiest form of 'activism', hitting the 'share' button on your timeline, has become the only way most young people act out at all, costing out great nation not only knowledge and freedom, but it's core identity as well. 

In the 1960s, youth culture in the US was united possibly more so than ever before as they fought against the wars in Korea and Vietnam. They organized sit-ins, protests, marches, and even fashion trends all to assert their power as free Americans and truly support the causes they beleived in. Now we dismiss the worlds innumerable atrocities as simple 'trending topics' and articles that get passed around our friends' Facebook pages without even being read. It's easy to protect the little guy from the cushy desk chair in your parents suburban basement while you simultaneously browse Pinterest and fight for points on spotify. But what does sharing a cleverly worded status update do for the intolerably oppressed people living under dictatorships and unacceptably controlling governments? Absolutely nothing. You can iMessage your friends all you want about avoiding coke products in an effort to boycott the sponsors of the Russian hosted Winter Olympics but trading cola for sprite for a week until you loose interest does little to stop gay prosecution in Russia and you probably didn't think to check that sprite is a coke product too. 

The advantage of the modern era is that we have every bit of knowledge in the world at our fingertips and Americans are lucky enough to live in one of few countries that doesn't filter online content to their citizens. Unfortunately, most people are too concerned with gaining the next level in candy crush to educate themselves fully on what is happening in the rest of civilization. 

What drives me to speak so passionately about this is a current issue that strikes me especially close to home. The war President Vladimir Putin has struck against gays in Russia has escalated to sickening heights and only grows worse with American ignorance. A few months ago, statuses circulated for a couple of days on Facebook about boycotting certain companies to put a dent in funding for the coming winter games in Sochi because of a Russian law passed that labels any pro-gay propaganda or anything depicting any kind of alternative lifestyle as pornography, the vague wording of which subjects anyone condoning homosexuality or teaching it's acceptance to children to fines or possible arrest. What most of these Facebook fanatics don't realize now that the topic is no longer trending is that, not only is Stolichnaya not actually made in Russia, Putin's war against gays has only gotten worse. He has banned the adoption of Russian children to gay couples and to any single parent or couple living in a country where marriage equality exists. There are laws in effect that allow police to arrest and detain for weeks any tourist or foreigner whom they suspect might be gay or pro-gay. A law is also currently in the works that will allow Russia to repossess any child that was previously adopted by a suspected gay or lesbian couple and would allow police to take children from gay or lesbian biological parents. Any kind of hate crime against a homosexual person goes completely ignored, including the sexual assault and murder of a young gay man in Volgograd in May of this year.

Mr. Putin's hatemongering is completely unacceptable and must be stopped. America has it's own tolerance issues considering the heavy fight for gay rights and marriage equality that still takes place today but at least we are lucky enough to be protected by a government that still considers us people and a president that is finally beginning to stand up for equality. It is our duty as the Clark Kent of the modern world to unbutton our shirt, strap on that red cape, and fight for the freedom and equality that is deserved by our brethren around the world. We may not be able to change the opinion of conservative religious fanatics but we can fight for tolerance, if not acceptance. Sitting in front of your computer screen and sharing an article like this one is certainly an aid in spreading awareness of the issue but if that awareness doesn't pull anyone out of their chair, what good is it? Get out of the damn photo booth, Superman, and join the freakin fight.