Basically it was a simple photo that discredited anything that the #stoptheparade organizers tried to publish.
Groups protesting the Court decision to not indict Officer Darren Wilson (in Ferguson, Missouri), decided to take their protest to the streets of New York City in an attempt to disrupt the Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (#macysparade).
Quickly trending on Social Media was the hashtag #stoptheparade. Messages relative to the hashtag were showing support, organizers telling people where to congregate, users self-promoting, spam, a few videos and pictures from on the ground, and the picture featured in this post.
Looking at the picture, it would seem that there was a pretty good turnout from the #stoptheparade protesters, right?
Wrong! The photo being circulated like wildfire has nothing to do with New York City, #stoptheparade, or Ferguson. I’m lead to believe that it’s actually Istanbul. The Turkish flags kind of give it away.
It shows how easily misinformation can spread on social media, and how anyone will post and repost, blog reblog, tweet and retweet, whatever they’re lead to believe to be true.
Many tweets were to the effect of “this is what the media is hiding”. Right, not showing that, because it’s not a thing.
I’m all about the right to protest, within reason. Causing a disruption, or disturbance, is not protest.
A lack of credibility in any social media forum can destroy the cause as quickly as it was raised. Started intentionally or not, there were the disappointing many who blindly spread the information, and undermined the foundation of the movement, to a point that is is almost comical.
The #stoptheparade at its core, was intended to be focused and insular. Used for, and meant to peak during the Parade. A better idea would have been to use a tag with longevity, encompassing the entire protest, not just a single, brief facet of it. It was meant to spread information among the participants, of course it did reach further than that, in both positive and negative directions.
What do you think of the use of social media like this?
