{"id":191,"date":"2011-03-26T06:38:59","date_gmt":"2011-03-26T10:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/activistfaith\/?p=191"},"modified":"2011-03-25T09:42:45","modified_gmt":"2011-03-25T13:42:45","slug":"191","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2011\/03\/191.html","title":{"rendered":"Online Activism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My friend and Activist Faith co-founder Dan King shares some great thoughts on online activism, especially appropriate for this column. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>+++<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/yfrog.com\/h0k4oryj\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bibledude.net\/icorphan-blogger-panel-590x590.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" height=\"590\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just being at <a href=\"http:\/\/theideacamp.ning.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">#icorphan<\/a> was a privilege. Sitting on a panel with five other amazing bloggers to discuss online activism was an absolute honor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Our topic:<\/strong> Online Activism and the Weary Reader<\/p>\n<p><strong>The panel:<\/strong> (l-r in the image) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rageagainsttheminivan.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kristen Howerton<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eloranicole.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Elora Ramirez<\/a>, me, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.therunamuck.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Amber Haines<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wearethatfamily.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kristen Welch<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lindseynobles.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lindsey Nobles<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Our goal:<\/strong> To wrestle with ideas about how bloggers  talk about orphan care. It\u2019s easy to fall into the trap of posting \u2018fly  in the eye\u2019 images and stories designed to tug at heartstrings and  (hopefully) rally support. But is that the right thing to do? Readers  can easily grow weary when bombarded by sad stories where the only goal  is to get them to pull out the checkbook. Where do we find balance?<\/p>\n<p>Some of the others on the panel have shared some great perspectives on their blogs. Like when Kristen Howerton <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rageagainsttheminivan.com\/2011\/02\/fly-in-eye-how-orphan-care-isnt-sexy.html\" target=\"_blank\">pondered<\/a>, \u201c<em>How can I hook people in with funny stories, and then sneak-attack them into caring about social justice?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But during the discussion at #icorphan the panel and other attendees  tossed around ideas regarding how to effectively tell the story of the  orphan without causing the dreaded \u2018compassion\u00a0fatigue\u2019 with our  readers.<\/p>\n<p>Some talked about how they think we should only tell they joyful  stories of hope and\u00a0redemption. But that seemed somehow out of balance..<\/p>\n<p>So others shared that they <em>want<\/em> to hear about the pain and  suffering, because that\u2019s the reality of their situation. But that  brought us back to the other side of the pendulum.<\/p>\n<p>Then one participant said something that struck a chord with me. She talked about what hope really means.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Defining Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the verb form, hope is literally defined like this\u2026<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>to\u00a0look\u00a0forward\u00a0to\u00a0with\u00a0desire\u00a0and\u00a0reasonable\u00a0confidence<\/li>\n<li>to\u00a0believe,\u00a0desire,\u00a0or\u00a0trust<\/li>\n<li>to\u00a0feel\u00a0that\u00a0something\u00a0desired\u00a0may\u00a0happen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/hope\" target=\"_blank\">dictionary.com<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When we think of hope, we often only focus on the sunny side of the  definition. We think about the desired outcome, and how things could be.  But the reality of \u2018hope\u2019 is that the one desiring something different  still lives in the undesirable situation.<\/p>\n<p>The participant at the panel discussion described hope as be raw,  gritty, and even nasty sometimes. The reality of hope is that pain and  suffering exist, but that there is a way out\u2026 there is a \u2018could be\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rethinking the Story<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Maybe the right approach isn\u2019t to avoid one side of the pendulum or  the other. Maybe the best story tells the truth about the evil and the  good that exists in this world. Maybe getting into the story\u2026 the very  personal story of the orphan is what matters the most.<\/p>\n<p>I know a boy in Haiti that wants to be a doctor when he grows up so  that he can help other people get better when they\u2019re sick. But that  boy\u2019s reality is that he\u2019ll likely never get the education that he needs  in order to live his dreams. He\u2019s a <em>vibrant<\/em> young man full of  hopes and dreams, but one who still lives in a situation that\u2019ll  continue to drag him down unless something changes. The kind of change  that comes when people like us step into the story.<\/p>\n<p>These are the stories that I want to tell.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>For more perspectives on adoption\/orphan care check out\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bibledude.net\/2011\/01\/icorphan\/\">what I\u2019m sharing related to #icorphan<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My friend and Activist Faith co-founder Dan King shares some great thoughts on online activism, especially appropriate for this column. Enjoy! +++ Just being at #icorphan was a privilege. Sitting on a panel with five other amazing bloggers to discuss online activism was an absolute honor. Our topic: Online Activism and the Weary Reader The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Online Activism - Activist Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2011\/03\/191.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Online Activism - Activist Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My friend and Activist Faith co-founder Dan King shares some great thoughts on online activism, especially appropriate for this column. 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