We spoke a lot in class on Monday, after reading Dean, about internet activism, or lack there of. While some people tried to point out that internet activism isn’t real activism, I disagree. I simply believe that there are different kinds of activism.

The first kind is the most obvious. It’s people going out and doing things in the streets, signing petitions and marching on Washington.  It’s the people calling senators and representatives and trying to get them to write or pass a bill. It’s the literal action part of social action. It’s people doing political things.

There is another kind of activism, though. Social action can often mean doing very little action at all. Education is a kind of social action. Sitting in a room and discussing the problems in this world. Teaching little kids about feminism and to be proud of themselves. And teaching teenagers that it’s ok to think for themselves. These are all examples of this kind of activism. And they sometimes happen on the internet.

Even if the goal of “#bringbackourgirls” wasn’t necessarily achieved, it was still activism. It was trying to be the first kind, and ended up being the second kind. It showed people around the world that there was injustice, and it educated them. Same thing with #blacklivesmatter. There are now numerous people in this world that are thinking in a way that they hadn’t before. And some of those people are even protesting in the streets, showing the first kind of activism. These hashtags might not always hit their goals, but they hit something, or someone, somewhere.