I've been thinking recently about the ways in which we use the internet to valorize certain bodies over others, which is not necessarily a new concept, but bringing the hyper-temporality and hyper-connectivity of social media into play truly changes the playing field. The internet has sort of "spread" the kind of valuation across different contexts, to the point where people all over the world share the same kind of valuation system.
I am specifically thinking about the French profile filters, and what that meant. Why were French bodies specifically chosen to be mourned and institutionalized by literally overlaying the flag of a racist colonial nation over one's profile image (read: online persona, face, veiling with the flag etc.) Which bodies are rendered disposable and devalued to the point of inexistence/irrelevance? Bombs went off across the world, yet the French flag was the only one strewn across public buildings and Facebook profiles. The mirroring of the public representation of nation(s) having the French strewn across them in parallel with the Facebook profiles being covered as well is an interesting point to note.
I am also thinking about the rainbow profile filters. What did it mean for Facebook to valorize marriage equality, a victory for a very specific and narrow conceptualization of queerness? It was the first profile filter released (to the best of my knowledge), and it was available globally -- so, what does that mean for "filtering", what must happen for Facebook to institutionalize representation? What kinds of bodies become valued/are valued through such acts? I remember feeling very helpless as I saw so many people change their profile photos, for one thing, the colonizer who brutally murdered and enslaved so many was being valorized, while at the same time, executed bodies rendered disposable and dead by imperialism were ignored.
Is Facebook then truly a revolutionary platform? I do not know the answer to that, and this might be something I talk about in another post--the kind of epistemology forced onto activism by Facebook "rules".
I am specifically thinking about the French profile filters, and what that meant. Why were French bodies specifically chosen to be mourned and institutionalized by literally overlaying the flag of a racist colonial nation over one's profile image (read: online persona, face, veiling with the flag etc.) Which bodies are rendered disposable and devalued to the point of inexistence/irrelevance? Bombs went off across the world, yet the French flag was the only one strewn across public buildings and Facebook profiles. The mirroring of the public representation of nation(s) having the French strewn across them in parallel with the Facebook profiles being covered as well is an interesting point to note.
I am also thinking about the rainbow profile filters. What did it mean for Facebook to valorize marriage equality, a victory for a very specific and narrow conceptualization of queerness? It was the first profile filter released (to the best of my knowledge), and it was available globally -- so, what does that mean for "filtering", what must happen for Facebook to institutionalize representation? What kinds of bodies become valued/are valued through such acts? I remember feeling very helpless as I saw so many people change their profile photos, for one thing, the colonizer who brutally murdered and enslaved so many was being valorized, while at the same time, executed bodies rendered disposable and dead by imperialism were ignored.
Is Facebook then truly a revolutionary platform? I do not know the answer to that, and this might be something I talk about in another post--the kind of epistemology forced onto activism by Facebook "rules".
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