There’s a lot of injustice, oppression and inequality in the world. There are always going to be haves and have-nots, but it seems these days the lines and qualities by which the two categories are delineated are getting more flagrant and more idiotic. The fact that, even in a first-world society like Australia, many women feel an inherent threat in the mere presence of a man saddens me. That there are ethnic groups in this country and in places like Ferguson MO in the United States that still feel the effects of racial prejudice and the sense of injustice that accompanies it is outrageous. That there are people on the planet dying of starvation while we have enough to eat and throw out the leftovers is a mark of shame that will scar our generation in the history books of future centuries, assuming we last that long as a species without destroying our planet or ourselves.

Another defining feature of our generation, at least in the first world, is unprecedented access to information and social networks. Make your idea catchy/inspiring/sexy/heartwarming/bizarre/Xfactorfull enough to get people talking and it can spread all over the world while the counter argument is still putting on its boots. This has been fantastic for grass roots movements with enough creativity to get a catchy hashtag off the ground. #YesAllWomen and #BlackLivesMatter are just a couple of recent powerful examples.

And of course, there’s always the backlash, like #NotAllMen or #AllLivesMatter and here’s where it starts to get sticky for everyone.

The people who start hashtag trends usually aren’t trying to attack anyone. They’re trying to draw attention to their ideas, or to the perceived injustice, or to the flagrant inequality or to whatever they’re getting upset about. But although no-one sensible would ever argue that the issues facing women, or ethnic minorities or homosexual people or immigrants or whatever your preferred injustice is aren’t real, the problem with a viral hashtag campaign is that the complexities of race relations, gender politics or sheer-bloody mindedness can’t be adequately addressed in 140 characters. So while a hashtag like “BlackLivesMatter” might be aimed at righting wrongs rather than attacking non-black people, there’s always going to be someone who notices that asserting that “black lives matter” and posting passionate rebuttals of those who post “all lives matter” kind of implies that non-black lives don’t matter. There’s going to be someone noting that “To violence against women, Australia says no,” implies that “To violence against men, Australia says ‘meh’”. Not because those implications are valid or true, but because human communication is complicated and Twitter is deceptively simple.

And then the meme wars begin. There’ll be angry blogs from the first hashtag group about how the second hashtag group obviously don’t get it, because if they did get it, they'd agree with us. There’ll be counter blogs from the second hashtag group denouncing the first hashtag group as extremist whingers with an axe to grind. There'll be three frame cartoons from both sides reducing the other side to a stereotype and self-congratulatory punchline. Before you can say #StopAndThinkForASecondHereGuys, the whole thing descends into competition to see who can yell “they’re wrong and we’re right” the loudest. Whoever gets the most Facebook likes wins. Here’s the truth of it:

I’m right, and you’re all stupid.

Or more accurately, as Bill Clinton put it and U2 echoed it: "There is no Them. There’s only Us". People campaigning that black lives matter and people replying that all lives matter are both arguing essentially the same thing: #AllLivesIncludingBlackOnesMatter. Unfortunately that hashtag takes up 33 characters before you’ve even started, and isn’t half as catchy. And if we found ourselves cooperating on basic stuff that we all agree on instead of fighting on the internet about BASIC STUFF THAT WE ALL AGREE ON, we might have to start writing blogs about practical solutions instead of super-heated vitriol and three line political manifesto memes. Or switch off our computers and do something real.

Yes I’m aware of the irony of posting this here on my blog. But it’s okay in my case, because I’m well aware that what I’m writing is of absolutely no consequence whatsoever. It just feels good to get it off my chest. Go ahead and start a trend for #Garry’sBlogDoesn’tMatter if you want. I’ll give you a retweet. Hell. If it gives me a day without a flame war over which activists are less racist in my newsfeed, I’ll even take a picture of myself with a poster saying “#NoBlogsMatter” and post it, just to show how much I care. And then I’ll get back to writing about lego or cricket or spaghetti or something.

Damn it. Now I’m hungry. This is all your fault. #LeftOverTacosAreImportant.

Make of that what you will.

Garry with 2 Rs

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