This past week, a virtual trend has grown on the micro-blogging site Twitter: people have been tinting their avatars green in support of the Iranian rebellion against their recent election results.
You might be asking yourself what this means exactly. It means, just like with the “I Support Our Troops” bumper-stickers, absolutely nothing.
People, as a species, like to make themselves feel involved and important by latching onto a big event or social cause. I use the term “latching” because these people often never really do anything beyond attaching their support to the cause.
They are very content with just throwing up a button or a sticker and calling it a day. Hell, a large majority probably have the green avatars because it’s very in vogue to have one right now; effectively latching themselves onto the people who are latching themselves onto the cause in the first place.
What really gets me is that a lot of these people who are tinting their avatars have no idea what they’re actually supporting. Quite a few people I’ve talked to who have the green avatars believe that the Iranian population is rebelling against it’s governmental system.
It’s a nice thought. I’d be uplifting to think that a complete society of oppressed people have just stood up in rebellion against a vastly flawed political and social way of living.
Alas, the rebellion is over the (probably fixed) election results. The people rebelling are fighting to put a man in office who is only slightly better than their current leader and Steve Carrell look-a-like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
It would be if Democrats took to the streets after the 2000 U.S. election and fought to get Al Gore into office. Let’s also assume, for the sake of argument, that at that same time, America was still allowing slavery. Rebelling to get Gore into office wouldn’t change the whole slavery issue. If America were to rise up against an oppressive government that feels it needs to keep slaves, then now we’re talking.
People need to wake up and realize that no one cares one way or the other if your social networking avatar is green or not. Maybe if you used Twitter to inform others about the issue at hand or perhaps ways to effectively help, then you might be able to legitimately feel good about doing something in your own way to get involved.
But just like the soccer mom that has a “I Support Our Troops” sticker on her car and then drives off to go get blasted at some cheap nightclub, people who have green Twitter avatars while posting “Just had horrible breakfast at Dennys LOL” should maybe think twice before blindly throwing an inconsequential form of support behind a cause they might not even care about.
Tags: dennys, Green Avatar, Iran, Iran Election, twitter
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This is great. Thank you.
Bravo Vin! You have no idea how hapy I am that someone is taking a stand against hippy’s. I thought I was alone, now I know your there with me!
How dare you Mr. Forte…Denny’s Breakfast is AMAZING!!
Actually if the green avatars are useless so were all flags, avatars whatsoever which is not true.
This is a way to express an attitude and it is an important one. On the other hand if people add it because it is en vogue who cares as long as there is a chance media and politicians will take notice of it?! The more the merrier because that is the only way to come by something. For my Iranian friends they appreciate me supporting them with lil things that are in my power. However I doubt that neither the majority does not know what is going on in Iran nor do they doubt that the population is rebelling against it’s governmental system. Because this is what it is all about.
I hope the Iranian people will be successful fighting for their freedom.
fucking amazing. I could not agree more.
The use of green no longer stands for the election of one candidate over another, I think that is pretty clear. In the early days it did but now it has come to represent the struggle of the Iranian people to decide there own destiny and not be treated like sheep. I don’t think many people that change their Avatar to green have any illusions that they are doing anything more then showing some form of support for the struggle in Iran in some small way.
“I hope the Iranian people will be successful fighting for their freedom.”
THEY. ARE. NOT. FIGHTING. FOR. SHIT. (not yet, at least)
Everyone is jumping on the Support Iran bandwagon while refusing to acknowledge that what these people are rebelling against are the results of what is essentially a vote to elect a fake president.
The ayatollah is the real leader of Iran. The president just acts as a figurehead enforcing policy.
The Iranians need to have a rebellion against their government and it’s oppressive policies; NOT the results of a fairly inconsequential election.
I’m pretty sure that’s what this whole “rebellion” is about at this point. Things have changed pretty sharply over the last two weeks. Also the speed at which people expect change in the country is pretty strange and I believe a result of the internet and Twitter, Facebook, et al. We aren’t getting this news a week or two after it actually happened. The 1979 Revolution was more then a year in the making before the shit hit the fan.
sorry but you got it so wrong, obviously you don’t know anything about Iran,it’s people and their relationship with the government.
You people amaze me…..you’re the same people who are against the war after 9/11 (justifiably so) but you’re also the same people who want us involved in every other countries problems….. Save Darfur…..but fuck Iraq and their genocide, right?
I disagree – as a veteran of three combat tours those support our troops stickers do mean something to those of us on the lines. Something you probably know nothing about. These shows of support aren’t meant as a flag of ‘hey look at me I’m making a difference’ (although there are those who do), they are meant for the people that are doing the fighting that they are not alone in what they believe on a human level. Moral support makes a huge difference for those facing great adversity.
It was just 30 years ago that the same type of movement started out and eventually removed the unpopularly elected Shah and placed the Ayatollah in power. The current Ayatollah’s support of the stolen election results places the mullahs in a precarious position to being taken from their position of power if this does become a full-fledged revolution.