Response to Causewired--Chapter 7

While reading Chapter 7 in Causewired, "Spare the Paperwork: The Quick Rise of Flash Causes," I was immediately able to relate to everything author Tom Watson was describing. During this chapter, Watson describes "flash causes," which are "an instant burst of community activism" (120). Examples of "flash causes" include members of a community raising money for a family with a sick child, a group of people joining together to find a missing person, and much more.

Watson's descriptions of these "flash causes" instantly reminded me of the groups on Facebook. It seems whenever I log on to Facebook, I have at least one or two group invitations. Most of the time, these groups are superficially based--i.e. a person creates a group to collect phone numbers when they get a new cell phone or a group is created based on a shared interest--but sometimes, these groups actually concern serious issues. For example, sometimes I receive group invitations that concern issues such as a missing child, a local petition, and other important causes. These many Facebook groups concerning important causes prove Tom Watson's point that using the internet does wonders for philanthropy because it "puts the tools of attention, and fundraising, and action into the hands of any citizen who cares enough to use them" (123).

The most striking example of a "flash cause" given in the book was that of Mukhtaran Bibi, a woman from Pakistan who was sentenced to be raped because of her brother's affair with a high-status woman (her brother was falsely accused). The tribal council of Bibi's village in Pakistan decided that, to punish Bibi's brother, Bibi would be gang-raped by high-status men. Later, Bibi was placed under house arrest in order to prevent her from traveling to New York to speak about human rights. Though this story was from 2002, my heart still ached for Bibi. As I read on, I realized that because of the large response on the internet--mostly from blogs--Bibi was eventually released and now travels in order to speak about human rights. Reading this story inspired me and made me realize just how powerful the internet can be for important causes--from big to small.

Due to this new-found inspiration, I decided to include a few links from groups and causes on Facebook which I think are important to support:

. Missing Girl (Facebook Group)
. Children's Rights (Facebook Causes)
. Breast Cancer (Facebook Causes)

Comment with any causes you feel are important!