Petitions: Making the World Go 'Round... in Circles


It seems to me like today's modern, popular and unquestioned modus vivendi is: stay oblivious, wait 'til it's too late, then bitch & moan and sign tons of ex post facto petitions.
Thanks to the Web, every single concern, real or imagined, now boasts at least one e-petition.  There's even specialized sites that make it quick and easy for anyone to post and manage Internet petitions. 
But is this really how we choose to unite across the globe, through appeals? Rather passive, no? 
And because one signed doesn't mean one cares. It's become an empty, reflexive click that's now greatly simplified thanks to Auto-Fill and the wonders of Web 2.0; a feel good action that's performed in between e-shopping and sharing viral pictures and videos of fools and accidents, and cute animals with atrocious spelling while not bothering to learn about the cause beyond the bold headline. It provides a false sense of action and participation; it dissipates anger but rarely leads anywhere. "Hey! I clicked, I care; now it's up to fate."
The people that follow up are few and far between.
Makes me wonder if targeted entities and governments aren't behind some of these petitions, and how many are fronts to steal info and sell mailing lists.    
If we really want a change, firstly, we have to look within and change our own attitudes and behaviours that support all those entities whose very attitudes and behaviours we condemn.  Everyone is quick to click against child labour and third-world slavery, but the same people all want really cheap prices or are willing to overpay for exploitative status symbols from companies who are legally bound to their 'public' shareholders to do whatever it takes to give 'em a bigger buck.  Likewise, no one wants to see cruelty being done to animals while we blindly eat our share of millions of chickens that are killed daily. etc., etc.  I could go on.  
And how come we can all rally together when a determining World Cup soccer goal is contested, yet we've allowed a company like Monsanto to exist for so long? 
Some petitions do have their place, but why do we generally have to wait until it's too late to react? The info is out there before, but it only seems to become relevant and genuine when it's taken the form of a third-party petition.    
If we were all just a little more proactive, all a little more actually involved, perhaps we wouldn't need so many petitions; reactive attitudes can only lead to more of them. 


Together, we can do far more than fill databases by clicking on petition buttons. 


Although it may seem inappropriate this time, it is my catch phrase: Keep on clicking!
PDL 

 © 2011, Pascal-Denis Lussier 
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