Peter Moskowitz is a New York City-based reporter who recently wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post. Moskowitz is gay and he has a problem with all of you who slapped a rainbow on your cute little Facebook profile picture. He says that slapping a rainbow on your profile picture is not activism, rather “slacktivism”. Ouch!
Why? Because You don’t understand his struggle. You cheapened the struggle with this rainbow on your little Facebook profile photo.
That's a sore winner. It looks like some people want their cake, eat it, and throw some of it back in your face. Moskowitz compared this Facebook flag show of support to “co-opting.” He says:
Facebook did not invent co-opting, but it allowed it to happen en masse this week…It gave an unprecedented number of people the power to claim understanding of a struggle they do not actually know. When millions of people cloak themselves in a symbol without understanding what it means, they dilute that symbol’s power.
Here's an irony. Moskowitz is a freelancer for....Al-Jazeera America. How the's LGBT revolution going in Qatar?
By identifying with the rainbow flag as a child, Moskowitz “knew” he was different and in for a hard life:
I was about 10, walking with my mom through Chelsea – New York City’s preeminent gayborhood – and saw a rainbow flag hanging from a pharmacy storefront. The sight of the flag made me deeply uncomfortable. Even then, I knew it somehow represented me and marked me as different. I was only a kid, but I understood that if I identified with that flag, I’d be in for a hard life.
Moskowitz spoke of his struggle and how the flag that once meant he was different became a symbol of acceptance:
The rainbow flag became a symbol of acceptance and confidence as I found my place in the LGBT community. I’ve earned the right to claim pride through years of internal strife over my sexuality. Others have died in the name of gay pride…Gay pride is not something you can claim by waving a flag. The rainbow symbol is easy to co-opt, but the experience it represents is not.
However, Moskowitz did something that is usually (and purposely) overlooked by the gay community – not to mention the media. He called out both President Obama and Hillary Clinton:
President Obama’s Facebook and Twitter pages displayed “Love Wins” messages on the day of the Supreme Court ruling, even though the president was against same-sex marriage until a few years ago (at least publicly). And Hillary Clinton’s Facebook page was awash in rainbow-themed regalia on Friday, her 2016 presidential campaign “H” logo overlain with the pride rainbow. Left unsaid on her Facebook page was the fact that she actively advocated against same-sex marriage until two years ago.
As if he won't be another journalist vote for Hillary....
