Bat Manyika contemplates social media activism, drawing on his academic knowledge and practiced experience of the New Testament, which he studies as both church leader at CityHill Church, Johannesburg and PhD student at the South African Theological Seminary.
Reflection
On the 7th January 2015 the world awoke to the harrowing news of an extremist attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris. News outlets across the globe covered this sad incident in intricate detail. Shortly after, political figures of all stripes and sizes marched the streets of Paris, showing solidarity with the people of France and the right to freedom of speech. The hashtag #jesuischarlie trended as the message of freedom was broadcast from stadia and social media platforms worldwide. Meanwhile, in the very same week that 17 people lost their lives across France, as many as 2000 individuals were butchered to death in a separate extremist attack in Nigeria. The difference; no widespread media coverage, no solidarity march. Only a counter solidarity hashtag of #jenesuispasCharlie [Read more…] about “To tweet or not to tweet?â€: Selective empathy in a world of hashtag revolutions (Scholar’s Compass)