Gladwell and Gopnik Essays

Gladwell and Gopnik Essays Gladwell and Gopnik Essay Gladwell and Gopnik Essay With America’s history of people fighting for their rights, we have become accustomed to the idea that activism needs to be extreme; to cause riots, have aggression, and for people to be put in jail to make a point. We have created an image that there needs to be a fierce willingness to fight, in order for activism to be effective. As Malcolm Gladwell describes in â€Å"Why the Revolution Should not be Tweeted†, he reminds us of what ‘real’ activism is and how other generations have risked their lives to make a difference, in both their lives and the future of America. He does not think that activists can be considered true activists if they are non-violent when protesting for their rights. However, Gladwell should consider that protesting is a process that doesn’t start off as being violent and aggressive. The first stages of a successful protest involve acknowledging the problem. In the other text, â€Å"Bumping into Mr. Ravioli†, Adam Gopnik claims that technology pushes people apart because of a busy-ness affect that it creates. What he does not realize is that he used technology as a resource to help him become a more understanding father. After recognizing a problem with his daughter and her imaginary friend, he reaches out to his sister, a developmental psychologist, through phone calls and emails. While it does keep us too busy sometimes, social media has benefits to it. It is a tool that can be used to exchange information, teach its users, and continually raise awareness. Once our generation is able to realize the benefits of social media and use it to its advantage while minimizing its cons, it can prove to Gladwell that tweeting, or Facebook-ing isn’t useless. : It is a tool that has the potential to bring activism to another level. The idea that social media has a weak tie to activism should be reconsidered since social media was created to bring their users together. One person cannot work alone with any big task. For example, Gopnik, who willingly gave himself the task to understand why his daughters imaginary friend always left her. He realized that he needed help, and his sister, a developmental psychologist seemed to be the best person to answer his questions. â€Å"I emailed my sister for help with the Ravioli issue-how concerned should we be? and she sent me back an email, along with an attachment, and, after several failed cell phone connections, we at last spoke on a land line. (Gopnik 154)† Here Gopnik reached out for a helping hand; in return through the use technology, he was able to get in contact with his sister and was able to get information from her from California to New York. Through email and telephone they were a ble to talk to one another from across the country. Their conversation is significant enough to prove that through the easy access of a telephone Gopnik and his sister were able to eventually reach a conclusion to what the problem was. If he had not reached to his sister, who was not only family but a professional it would have taken him longer to answer his own question himself. He would have to research for this information manually, either through the internet or even the library. The Facebook and Twitter features also have similar features as phone calls and emails in which they are able to send messages quickly but it’s greatest feature is that it is able to access a larger group than just one person. The reason is because Facebook and Twitter are made public to its users to network and become more familiar with our acquaintances. The sociologist Mark Granovetter has observed and stated that â€Å"Our acquaintances- not our friends- are our greatest source of new ideas and information (Gladwell 137). † The more acquaintance’s we get means the more people to help give new ideas, opinions and even observations about†¦anything really. Even though Gopnik’s sister was a family member, Granovetter would agree that through their electronic communication they were able to collaborate on one idea. Not only was Gopniks sister a professional, but she was also someone who wasnt a part of the New York lifestyle, which is why she was able to catch onto why Mr. Ravioli, the imaginary friend, was always on a run. She could observe from afar. In order for activism to be strong, it needs more than one person and one idea. The more people or acquaintance’s that are reached, the stronger the support system is. In order to have an even stronger system we need our supporters to understand and believe in the action that is being protested. Social media is capable with not only getting in contact with other people but it allows you to grab those people’s attentions in many different ways. These followers need to be convinced and taught about the different options that they can be given. Many people follow trends, and with social media being a big part of the trend it makes it easier to have an audience. It is easy for people to invite people to a group, or event on Facebook or even having a following of tweeters on Twitter because people are able to add descriptions. In this descriptions majority of people who are protesting are able to write who they are, what the problem is, give ideas of solutions to the problem and overall a way to convince their readers to press ‘Like’, ‘re-tweet’, ‘Follow’ or ‘Attend’. With their explanation they can create a bandwagon of supporters and build a strong willed support system. Gladwell used the example of the Bhatia needing a bone-marrow transplant. Even though people helped by signing up for a donor registry and sending in a cotton swab to a hospital, he still believed that â€Å"it doesn’t involve financial or personal risk (Gladwell 138)†. Once we are able to read between the lines, then we are able to realize that even though there was no real action being made thousands of people became more aware of why people needed bone-marrow transplants, or even how to help to donate to the cause. This is where social media is a key to gaining supporters. The more people that are exposed to a cause then the more people get involved or are willing to help it out. Going back to Gopnik, if he hadn’t asked his sister for help he wouldn’t have realized the reason for his daughter’s sadness. She stated â€Å"No,† she said. â€Å"I’m sure that doesn’t occur anywhere in the research literature. That sounds completely New York (Gopnik 155)† His sister made an observation, Olivia was influenced by her surroundings especially the New York aspect of it. Gopnik reached out to his sister for help, and in return he not only received help but he got in return even more than he expected. His sister taught him about the impact of the New York lifestyle. Even though his article does not tell his readers how he actually solved the problem, he is now more aware of his daughter then he ever was before. People are capable of teaching others, and even though the cry for a matching bone marrow was to benefit one person it’s story and what it taught its readers is capable to benefit many others. The efficiency of social media and it’s networking gives people more time to consider new ways to help its people. With the help of Facebook’s groups and Twitter’s hash tags it is easy to donate to a cause with just a click of a button. â€Å"The Facebook page of the Save Darfur Coalition has 1,282,339 members who have donated an average of nine cents apiece. (Gladwell 138)†That means that the Save Darfur Coalition group alone was able to raise $115,410. 51 which could have been used to buy food, fresh water, forms of shelter and clothing for the people in Darfur that were suffering. Using this Facebook group in particular, people weren’t even familiar with the group leader or all of the people invited, were able to donate their small gifts and raised more than enough money for one group. Many causes or activist’s, especially similar one to these, are not able to do much without money or donations from other people. This is why many organizations look to fundraising since many things come with a price. Gopnik’s realization about his daughter’s imaginary friend is an important story to many people, especially his fellow New York families. Through his use of observation, story and research he wrote the article â€Å"Bumping into Mr. Ravioli† which has reached even the internet. Even though he did not explain how he solved the situation, nor did he raise any money he was able to use his strength that thousands of people have read online. If we were to research this article we can find it attached or posted on peoples Tumblr, Xanga’s, Facebook notes and more. Gopnik’s way of helping people was to expose our population the effects of the everyday lifestyle and the children who feel neglected. Olivia still hopes to have him(Mr. Ravioli) to herself someday (Gopnik 160). † Gopnik’s parting words leaves hope for his readers, and that there is a solution to the problem. The reason for these small gestures, whether its raising money or just telling a story is to give hope to its people, the followers and the suffer-ers. There are many ways that social media can benefit in this hope, people just need to be creative. Our generation spends a lot of time on different types of social media’s, and with that knowledge people should take advantage of the trend that is going on. Once people understand that there is more to Facebook and Twitter than just being able to be in contact with friend’s lives then there is a possibility that activism can have a stronger support system then ever before. There are many resources that allow people to be a part of something without giving much effort and even though Gladwell doesn’t believe that this is a form of activism, it is only a small step for our generation. He even expresses that social media has its perks a few times in his own argument that social media shouldn’t be used in a revolution so he too hints that there is potential. There are other ways of using social media as a part of being an activist; people just need to be a part of it. There is much potential in it, with the use of networking, informing and raising money for the cause. Gopnik may not fully support technology because it is a barrier with relationships, through technology he was able to make an opportunity to create a relationship with his own daughter, Olivia. We just need to take a step forward, think outside the box and become more useful to the cause rather than just sitting and clicking away.