Why worry about fashionistas in activism

The problem of #fashionistas in activism is the pushing of style and appearance over substance and meaningful action. These people are concerned with projecting a limited image or brand of activism, rather than engaging in the actual, messy effect of social change. This poses challenges to the efficacy and integrity of real grassroots movements:

Superficiality over Substance: Fashionistas prioritize surface-level aesthetics and trends over substantive analysis and action. They focus on creating a visually appealing image of activism, such as through trendy protest attire or social media posts, rather than engaging in on the ground deep-rooted grassroots activism that addresses real issues.
Performative Activism: Fashionistas engage in performative activism, where their actions are about signalling commitment to a cause rather than making contributions. Participating in protests or events primarily for photo opportunities and social media validation, rather than working towards on the ground change.
Exclusionary Practices: The emphasis on fashion and style creates barriers to participation for people who do not conform to slavish aesthetic norms. This marginalizes people from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and identities who do not fit into the narrow standards set by fashionistas within the movement.
Distraction from Core Issues: When activism becomes focused on appearances and trends, it detracts from the issues and objectives of the movement. Attention and resources are diverted to superficial aspects of activism, rather than towards addressing the causes of injustice and inequality.
Reinforcement of Consumer Culture: The influence of fashionistas reinforces consumerist attitudes and behaviours. This involves promoting consumer-driven solutions to social problems and aligning activism with commercial brands and products, rather than challenging the structures of capitalism and exploitation.
Dilution of Message and Impact: Activism that prioritizes style over substance dilutes the movement’s message and impact. When the emphasis is placed on spectacle and aesthetics, the underlying principles and goals of the movement become obscured and watered down, leading to reduced effectiveness in achieving meaningful change.

Mediating the problem of fashionistas in activism movements requires a commitment to centring authenticity, inclusivity, and meaningful action, a culture of critical reflection, accountability, and solidarity. By prioritizing substance over style, activists work to building resilient, impactful, and inclusive movements. Best not to be one of the prats on this path, please.

The problem of fashionistas in activism

The hashtag #fashionistas” describes individuals and groups who adopt trends or mainstreaming ideologies in activism, for the sake of appearance to align themselves with what is currently popular or socially acceptable. In the realm of activism, this to often pushes the behaviour of #NGOs and advocacy organizations that prioritize “chasing the buzzword” over any meaningful action.

The problem with “fashionistas” in activism, particularly among NGOs, is the mess they push:

Superficial: NGOs focus on trendy causes and issues without any understanding or committing to them. This results in superficial engagement with complex social problems, leading to tokenistic gestures rather than any real substantive change.
Lack of Authenticity: When prioritize appearing progressive by aligning with popular movements without commitment to the cause, this undermines trust and authenticity within the community.
Mainstreaming: prioritize activism that is palatable to #mainstreaming agenda and funders, sacrificing radical grassroots voices in the process. This mainstreaming path dilutes the effectiveness of activism and reinforces existing power structures.
Misaligned Priorities: By chasing buzzwords and trends #fashernistas divert resources and attention away from pressing issues that are less visible, popular but more important. This perpetuates injustice and inequality in activist communities.
Reactive Rather Than Proactive: #Fashionista activism is reactive, responding to the latest trend or crisis rather than addressing any systemic issue in a sustained and strategic manner. This leads to short-term gains but fails to create lasting change.
Rectonery: Adopting trends without a commitment to “native” underlying values and principles leads to performative activism or “rectonery” – actions that serve to maintain the status quo rather than challenging oppressive systems.

To address the mess of fashionista activism, we need for NGOs and advocacy that prioritize authenticity, long-term commitment, and meaningful engagement with the communities they are a part of. This involves centring the voices of active grassroots groups, challenging #mainstreaming narratives, and pursuing paths that address root causes rather than superficial symptoms. By doing so, activists can work towards creating genuine, transformative change and challenge rather than blindly simply following the latest trend.

The Fediverse is an “accidental” openweb reboot

#fediverse is an accidental #openweb reboot – largely driven by the #fashionistas. Which means – it’s like herding cats – hard to move, hard to align, not a bad thing, not a good thing – just the reality.

If we want to move beyond the mess, one path is #OGB – grassroots, #DIY, producer-led governance.

If not, then we live (and die) with the chaos. And do what we can to stop people bowing down to the #deathcult. Because even holding that line matters, if we want to keep the #openweb alive.

How to fix the damage to the #openweb from the influx of #mainstreaming funding

The issue around funding and its impact on grassroots and radical projects. The balance between maintaining integrity and openness while navigating external funding is a difficult one. The #4opens provide a guiding framework, but the challenge remains to implement these in ways that avoid the corruption and failure which is normal for the #NGO funding models.

Running projects on minimal funding forces a degree of focus and prioritization that can be beneficial, but, it also comes with limitations. Trust-based models, like those from the direct action movement in the 1990s, show that alternative funding approaches can work, but they require strong social structures, trust, and transparency.

Finding ways to mediate this tension between the potential of funding and the risks it brings is key. What do people think of a more formalized version of those trust-based funding models, could they work today within the #openweb or #OMN?

We start with the assumption that 90-100% of funding on this subject is simply pored down the drain, most of it into pointless NGO projects and #fashernista individuals “careers”. The best #openweb funders I have found recently https://nlnet.nl/ who have money from NGI Zero which is from the EU

https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/4opens/wiki/Funding-of-openweb-projects

To fix some of these issues:

* https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/openwebgovernancebody/wiki/Online-governance- openweb tech from the perspective of a radical, grassroots, social technologist this is distilled into a codebase, as a “permissionless” roll-out of frameworks for social groups to form and see/govern themselves. https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/openwebgovernancebody/wiki/Statements-of-support

* https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/openwebgovernancebody/wiki/Statements-of-support Its easy to see that the #dotcons can not be fixed. The #fashionistas who keep flocking to new “ethical-ish” ones are a problem, not a solution. The #4opens are a simple way to judge the value of an “alt/grassroots” tech project. We need to bring this into our funding agenda.

* https://unite.openworlds.info/Open-Media-Network/Open-Media-Network/wiki Simple #OMN is a standards based political software framework to build #KISS and #4opens grassroots semantic web of trust links and flows. We do this by outlining a human understandable workflow and then building apps for real-world use. We are agnostic on the underling technology and programming as long as it is #4opens based.

Capitalism is now visibly a #deathcult its basic stuff

Reminder: Climate Change Was No Accident

As far back as 1982, fossil fuel executives knew they were trading a few…

Q. I notice you have used the #deathcult hashtag a few times recently on posts about capitalism, neo-liberalism and green consumerism, so I thought I would look it up. Wikipedia says that Death Cult may refer to an early name for the British rock band The Cult or a compilation album featuring all the songs from Death Cult. Under “See also” it links to the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (also known as the Southern Death Cult), and to Southern Death Cult as yet another name for the band. Finally it says it is used as a synonym for the term “destructive cult”.

Destructive cults are described in the Wikipedia entry for Cult as “groups whose members have, through deliberate action, physically injured or killed other members of their own group or other people”. John Gordon Clark cited totalitarian systems of governance and an emphasis on money making as characteristics of a destructive cult.

A. good research, am trying to get #XR beyond liberalism were #deathcult solutions are discussed with out a thought. A step.

Q. Hamish just loves a hashtag! Once he gets his hands on one he uses it until it falls apart.
A. The idea is to spread um so that they join the mainstream discussion and then becomes the mainstream. Simple idea, very hard for #stupidindividualism #fashernistas to actually do anything so simple. Much like #stepaway from the #dotcons is simple #OMN One can but keep trying, while sailing away on a lifeboat #boatingeurope

Q. I am beginning to suspect you are getting money each time you mention one of these 😉

A. Sadly not, though when I recommend stuff on my blog I anyway put an affiliate link, more outa curiosity to see if it works than any income. Think the is a little money in a paypal account which I have lost the PW and can’t reset die to old phone number 😉

A. #hashtags click on um, search the web with um, use them to create conversations across the #dotcons and out onto the #openweb it’s a little stepaway that is easy to do. It’s a shame about #stupidindividualism #fashionistas that they can’t be a part of this #stepaway its basic stuff.

A. Of course neoliberal Capitalism was always a #deathcult just now with #XR it’s kinda ok to say this. A good example to give people is the Irish potato famine, as we are likely to repeat this soon with climate change hitting industrial agriculture. We really don’t want to be in the dogmatic neoliberal world when this hits as were then, lots of death and despair to go around.

From the #dotcons

“Thrown into the mix are the US Evangelical Christians who are waiting for Armageddon, the End Times, and the Second coming of Christ, and who welcome climate change catastrophe as a confirmation of their twisted beliefs.

The only time – to my knowledge – that I was ever unfriended on Facebook was by an Evangelical Christian Zionist, now living in the USA, who was offended by my posts showing The Israeli military bombing the hell out of civilians in Gaza. It confused me at the time, but I only recently found out that Jews returning to Israel is also a ‘sign’ of the approaching End Times for those Christian Fundamentalists.

It really is a death cult. US Republicanism, especially in its Christian Fundamentalist form, is a death cult of the most dangerous kind, and is without doubt the greatest obstacle to the continued existence of life on Planet Earth.”

The #geekproblem pushing over #openweb again

https://www.wired.com/story/how-blockchain-can-wrest-the-internet-from-corporations

The #encryptionists are trying to push there flagging project over the healthy #openweb reboot.

Q. need a new hashtag? Lovers of blockchain (bloccatenaphile?) are a breed unto themselves, and not likely to be as sensible as some those who are in to encryption.

How broad is your definition of #encryptionist?

A. #encryptionists my “fuckyou” thoughts started with the #indymedia network. The #geekproblem installed a self-signed certificate on the domain to increase “privacy” alongside not logging IP addresses on the local server.

The “good affect” only security theatre, the bad effect, every user received a browser pop up saying “do not trust this site” and the IP addresses could just be collected “upriver” at the ISP/switch level by the state actors who were monitoring the project

#openweb

The effect of not logging IP address locally was a rising deluge of spam and moderator burn out.

The was not democratic process on these changes, and no way to roll them back or even address the issue. The project of over 100 global news sites, with thousands of media creators and millions of users. Ossified and then died, the #dotcons soon replaced it.

#Fashionistas moved on, the #openweb started to die.

The #geekproblem pushing #encryptionists agenders OVER #openweb projects.

There is a role for #encryptionists /closed, but it’s on balance a smaller one than “open” is my core experience over the last 20 years.

All tech is “ideology” as code, we need to talk about this #4opens