Efforts often motivated by vanity, not charity
To believe that cancer is weak enough to be solved by posting a selfie is naïve and offensive to those who have fallen to it.
While I understand that the majority of chain nominations and selfies are harmless, and ultimately lacking any profound meaning, one in particular has caught my attention: the “no makeup selfie.” For those unaware of this trend, it simply obliges every nominee to post a bare-skinned photo of their face for Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to marvel at.
This would not seem too sinister alone, just another mechanism by which we use social media to boost our confidence, but an increasing number of these photos don the caption “for cancer awareness.” Maybe these people have good intentions, believing they are spreading awareness about an important issue. But here’s the catch: cancer is already one of the most talked about and prevalent issues in today’s society.
And rightly so, considering the amount of damage it does to the lives of the victims and those around them. But the thing is, you already knew that. Because we all know that cancer is an issue, and we are all aware of the constructive ways we can help victims of this awful disease. Offhand, most of us can think of more than a few: participating in Relay for Life , donating to the Canadian Cancer Society directly, or simply volunteering time at your hospital’s cancer centre.
The problem is that this trend of posting a selfie — proclaiming the fact that yes, you are still a goddess with no makeup on — is not one of the major ways to help.
Some participants in this campaign may have honourable intentions, and truly do want to help. But with a campaign like this, there’s a very thin line between posting that photo for approval from your peers and posting it because you are determined to fight cancer. The result is that in many cases people are turning a campaign for cancer into a platform for vanity.
This is slacktivism at its prime, trivializing an incredibly significant problem into one that can be fixed by posting selfies to social media. I am far from opposed to fighting against a major disease, but what I am opposed to is people ignorantly believing that they are contributing to the solution for cancer by participating in a race to achieve the most likes.
The fight against cancer is not one that will be solved easily. It is a positive thing to have so many people interested in contributing to this battle, but if we want change, the strategies that will make an impact need to be as popular as the “no makeup selfie” campaign. We need a movement that is more selfless, and that is just as outrageously popular.
