Why I Won't Be Changing My Profile Picture to Support France

Originally published November 16, 2015

If you were on social media at all over the weekend, you definitely saw most, if not all of your friends changing their profile picture to support France. Or you might’ve seen a bunch of celebrities posting a picture of Paris on Instagram with the hashtag #PrayForParis. Now, for most of you, this seemed like the right thing to do, because such a tragic and senseless event had just occurred in one of the most well known cities in the world and everyone else was doing it.

However, did you stop and think for a second what the point was for doing all of this? Did you think that the only people that are going to see this are everyone else on your timeline, who’s already done it? Did it ever cross your mind that this is just another ‘trendy’ social media gimmick to show the people around you the ‘empty’ support you feel for the victims, and how by next week you’ll probably have forgotten why you changed it in the first place?

In no way am I undermining what happened because at least 128 innocent people died; sons, daughters, wives, husbands, dads and moms are no longer able to go home to their families. But, where’s your support for the 40 innocent people that were killed by suicide bombings in Lebanon? Where’s the outrage for the 19 people that died mourning a loved one at a funeral in Baghdad? Where’s everyone changing their profile pics to Kenyan flags when 147 people were thoughtlessly murdered trying to study at a college?

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A lot happened over the weekend in the media following the terrorist attacks and the response all around the world was unbelievable. Facebook immediately activated their ‘safety check’ during the terrorist attack and took a lot of flak from the Internet for their ‘double-standard.’ Where was their safety check during the Beirut bombings? Mark Zuckerberg came out with a statement on Facebook stating the following:

Many people have rightfully asked why we turned on Safety Check for Paris but not for bombings in Beirut and other places.

Until yesterday, our policy was only to activate Safety Check for natural disasters. We just changed this and now plan to activate Safety Check for more human disasters going forward as well.

Here’s more detail on Safety Check and our policy for deploying it from the Facebook Safety page:

https://www.facebook.com/fbsafety/posts/930229667014872

Thank you to everyone who has reached out with questions and concerns about this. You are right that there are many other important conflicts in the world.

We care about all people equally, and we will work hard to help people suffering in as many of these situations as we can.

Personally, I like how they’re now using this feature in human disasters as well, but why didn’t they use this the day before in Beirut? Is it just because it happened in a Western country?

Facebook also implemented there ‘Change your profile picture to support France and the people of Paris.’ This was the first time the social media giant has ever done anything like this, and I’m sure your timeline was filled tons of people doing it. Personally, I think by doing this, you are in no way affecting change at all or raising awareness about the issue. You should share articles about ISIS or their attacks elsewhere around the world to show your friends that there are other important issues going on.

I also think Facebook could’ve possibly done something where by in order to change your profile picture, you would have to donate to an aid organization that is helping the victims and their families. This way, by changing your profile picture, people are actually donating towards a cause and making a difference. Additionally, I think Facebook could’ve adapted a ‘Stop ISIS’ poster or something along that line instead of what it did, because that way they are raising awareness about the cause of the issue rather than showing support for a specific incident in a specific country.

‘Where’s your support for the 40 innocent people that were killed by suicide bombings in Lebanon? Where’s the outrage for the 19 people that died mourning a loved one at a funeral in Baghdad? Where’s everyone changing their profile pics to Kenyan flags when 147 people were thoughtlessly murdered trying to study at a college?’

Additionally, other social media websites, like Snapchat got involved and added a special filter:

But where’s the filter for Beirut, or Baghdad, or for the earthquake victims in Mexico and Japan? Why can’t we pray for them too?

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As many of you may have noticed as well, the whole world decided to light up its famous monuments with red, white and blue. The CN tower in Toronto, tower bridge in London, Christ the Redeemer in Rio and the opera house in Sydney just to name a few, were all apart of global movement to show solidarity with France. The NHL and NFL both held moments of silence this weekend for all the victims and families affected by the attacks. But where’s the support for the other countries in their time of need as well?

In my opinion, the western media (and social media) has a lot to do with this selective bias. Because suicide bombings and attacks like these happen more often in the Middle East and third world countries, we’ve almost become desensitized to hearing it on the news. It’s almost as if the Western media values the lives of Westerners more than they value the lives of humans

Think about how crazy that sounds. That because you were born in a country anywhere but the West, the world doesn’t care about you. They don’t rush to change their profile pictures or change the world’s monuments to support your country. That’s actually insane and ridiculous. And one of the saddest parts about all of this is the backlash that has followed. Islamophobia is pushed right back into society because morons don’t understand how it’s such a miniscule portion of the population that is doing this.

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I read a story today about a cab driver that is absolutely heart-breaking. Please do take the time to read it and understand how ridiculous it is that this stuff still exists.

[tweet https://twitter.com/alexmalloyy/status/665391353556242432]

Now I’m in no way saying that changing your profile picture is bad or you shouldn’t say a prayer for Paris. But don’t get swept up in the social media hype. Think about why you’re changing your picture and what you’re hoping to accomplish. Think if you would do the same thing to change your profile to support Lebanon, Nigeria, Kenya, Palestine or Syria. Why or why not? Think about how else you could make a positive difference in the world.

I guess my point at the end of all of this is take the time to read and formulate your own opinion with regards to an issue. Don’t just hop on a social media ploy aimed at creating a false sense of empathy, when you should be informed about what’s going on around the whole world.

So instead of #PrayForParis, let’s #PrayForHumanity

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