Russia: (Self) Promotion Masquerading As Protest

Right now, Russia’s gay community need all of our support, so I find it confusing when I get a weird feeling in my stomach looking at media brands plastering supportive rainbows over their logos. No one with any basic level of humanity would deny the validity of a support campaign for gay people in Russia. But this type of bland showmanship seems several steps behind even clicktivism in terms of practical action. It’s a very real humanitarian problem, boiled down to a symbol.

When Channel 4 started it, it seemed valid and inventive but now the internet is starting to look like the BBC in November, only instead of poppies, we’re drowning in rainbows. It began with media brands and it was followed by individuals who wish to be media brands themselves. I'm sure that, if you use the internet, you've come across companies or social media users who have joined in. But much like the flowers on Aschrott's Grave, I worry that these rainbow logos have become little more than self-serving monuments.

Ugh, picking a fight with this trend doesn't make me seem like a good person, does it? This whole thing reminds me of Kony 2012. When that film dropped, long before the guy who made it began jerking off in the street, it seemed like a well-intentioned piece of work from people disgusted at the plight of child soldiers in Uganda. And what could be unreasonable about that? Nothing, except the video was such a saccharine piece of propaganda that I was certain something had to be wrong with it. At least on some level, my suspicions were correct. There were questions about the campaign's financial transparency, the company's motive and what would really happen if Uganda were flooded with weapons. I feel the same way today. This is another good cause, but on some fundamental level it feels suspect to me because it is a gutless, tokenistic form of protest...

The Hypocrisy Of The Internet's Sochi Rainbow Protests - Alex Miller, Vice.

PS The Hypocrisy of Vice? The £1billion "edgy" media empire, the Murdochs and corporate "sponsored content".