Roy's article about LGBT South/Southeast Asians provides a very reasonable and nuanced approach to the power of the internet. He first talks about the positive aspects about the internet. LGBT people (especially before our era) have been silenced; people to not want to talk about gay issues. Thus, it can be hard for them to find places to express themselves freely. The internet allows them to do just that. A main focal point of the internet is its anonymous nature, which allows people to be very comfortable in expressing who they are. However, Roy expresses many negatives as well. This anonymous nature has resulted in many attacks on people and groups. While the internet can be used as a gateway for everyday acts of resistance, it can also be used for anonymous abuse. People can attack people with little to no consequence for their words. Websites can publicly denounce other groups while remaining unnamed; no one knows who runs the website.
Living in my day and age, the internet has so much power and influence. What Roy has worried about in "keyboard activists" has sadly become true. Many people resort to living online and only online. Roy worries that people become too comfortable in this safe spaces and as a result, do not actually go out and make change. Boi that is too accurate. People think that by "supporting" groups via social media, actual change will happen. There was a time on Facebook where people posted sad videos as a caption put "1 like = 1 prayer" in order to make people think they are helping when in reality, they are just making a Facebook page more popular and thus, making that page more revenue. People have become so passive and are not willing to go out to make the changes that Roy wants.
While the internet is a place full of sweaty grease monkeys, it really is a great tool to mobilize massive groups of people. Especially when people don't have a voice (like the LGBT community in India), it is often the only place many people turn to in order for a sense of community and connection. It should thus be used in conjunction with physical meetups and real emotional connections. But it should not take over lives. Rather, it should create a higher quality of life that goes to increase real activism and community.
"Kelly Loves Tony" was an interesting documentary. The thing that stood out to me the most is when Kelly said that it is not true that when you get pregnant, your life is over. She went to college and was progressing her life with her kid and Tony by her side. I was always taught that if you get pregnant, or if you get a girl pregnant, your life is done. No more school, no more work, just taking care of the kid. I was always so afraid of teen pregnancy that I tried to avoid it at all costs, with myself and just talking about it with others. It made me uncomfortable. I still think that people should generally not become pregnant is they are young, but I guess it really depends on your situation...?
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