Performative Activism is More Common, and Harmful, Than We Think

by Dayeon Son

With growing awareness for social issues and politics in the US and around the world, we’ve come to face the idea of “performative activism.” By definition, performative activism is activism done to increase one’s social capital rather than because of one’s devotion to a cause. Through social media platforms and largely in part because of the pandemic, people have been sharing resources and news to address human rights and social issues that are prevalent today. Whether it be through Instagram stories and reposts, there’s many articles and graphics being shared. Overall, this is a beneficial thing as it informs and educates people about what’s going on around the world at a fast pace. However, we see this issue of performative activism becoming more common among people and peers on the internet.

On social media, simply reposting and sharing information is rather easy, and only takes a few seconds of your time. While most and many people share information they carefully read through and genuinely care about, some repost just for the sake of reposting, to somehow prove some point that they are active in social issues and are not a part of the system of racism that still greatly plagues this world. From my personal experience, especially during the months of quarantine and with the bigger rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve seen and heard what some of my peers think about performative activism. Yes, many may repost just to create a certain image, but these people are the ones who aren’t taking an active part in dismantling racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc. I’ve come across peers who condemn those who are active on social media, claiming it is all and only performative. They refuse to post articles, and simply change their bio to “BLM.” They consider what’s on social media as “fake activism,” yet they never show any effort in working to become anti-racist. These people criticize and put themselves above social media activism, but believe that when they say “BLM,” they are the ones participating in “true” activism.

These experiences and conversations myself and my peers have seen are more harmful than not. From my personal experience, I’ve found the content that my friends and classmates share to be helpful and informative. I’ve learned a lot through them. Performative activism of any kind is harmful, but the reality is that we can never know who is genuine and not on the internet. I think that those who are basically the definition of performative in real life cause the most harm, as many of them cherry pick the points that they want to say criticizing racism, but refuse to acknowledge the privilege that they may have. Some of my white classmates are extremely active either on social media or claim that they don’t believe in that “performative activism” while continuing to do that in classes and conversations. The harm of their performative activism is the complete difference in attitude they have when it comes to actual issues in the community that may ask of them to acknowledge their privilege. While claiming that they are passionate about equality for minority communities, they also refuse to listen to the voices of their peers who have been affected by these systems of oppression for all of their lives. Their “activism” that they believe is what’s legitimate ends up having one purpose: a way of boosting their image as an ally, an activist, a person standing against injustice. They achieve the bare minimum, and are still praised for being so impactful. Activism has no impact unless people actively take part against these issues, whether or not others are watching.

I’ve found performative activism to be much more common than I thought, when people who I thought I could trust were only saying these things to hide the fact that they do not care, and the prejudice that they still hold against minority communities. They aren’t any better than those who outright ignore these issues. To become truly against these systems and the people who harm minorities, we need to be active regardless of image and because we honestly care about the injustices within our communities.