"Doing" is an Action Verb

I was checking on line for something and came across this definition from the Urban Dictionary
of the term "cyber hippie". To be honest I wasn't sure what exactly it was, so I checked. Here is what the dictionary says.....
"Someone who sits around all day on the internet making petitions and random protests all via the web, which don't actually have any real effect on anything. They also tend to claim they want to help and change the world and all that good stuff, but are too lazy to actually get up, get out, and actually do something about it."
Sad to say, I know more than a couple of these folks and really what it is, is masked apathy. Its maybe even a little bit of hypocrisy, lip service etc. Something akin to religion without any spiritual connection, or compassion.
I know most folks, including myself experiences times when we just don't feel like "doing" but don't want to loose ground so we go through the motions without much heart, or we don't do anything for a time, a dry spell shall we say, but please lets not any of us forget that with our hearts we feel and we do. Good thoughts, good intentions are all fine, but in order for them to bear fruit, we have to live them, act on them, live them.
I was really sad to see what a cyber hippie was and I sure don't ever want to be one. Think I will just stick to being an old hippie : )

Me with Melissa, nearly 29 years ago, fighting then to save the whales, still fighting now for our planet ! In all fairness this is not a great picture of me, I had had very little sleep the night before. A wee one had wanted more mommy time !

Comments

Val said…
Wow. I have never heard of that. One of my goals in life is to make a difference at least in just some small way. Have I told you that I love your blog? Well, I do.
Lisa said…
wow, never heard of such things as cyber hippies! I do not want to be one either! nice post :)
Lisa
Holly C. said…
I love this picture!
I do some online advocacy writing to my representatives and the president. This is not all I do, but it helps. I don't write real letters, which I used to think was better, because it turns out because of security measures they have nearly no impact.

You can telephone if you want but this type of email actually does have an impact. Of course, it needs to be combined with real help in your own community and your own family.
Deanna said…
I agree with Kristi...online activism can indeed have an effect. My daughter writes a blog on environmental issues (retrohousewife goes green)and because of her writings many are making changes in their own lives and are also beginning to spread the message to others.

She and I just attended a sustainability conference this weekend and were able to get press passes in return for blogging and Twittering about it. I have my Twitters set up to update my Facebook status (as you know, Patty *grin*) so people who don't read my blog and probably don't read much of anything of an environmentalist leaning were exposed to some concepts that hopefully will cause them to think about these things.
Patty said…
I think most folks that write about living green, about making changes in the way things are done are more than just what the definition of cyber hippie is. Most folks feel strongly enough that they make changes in their own life, which right there makes them different than the definition and therefore, an activist of some sort.
Debra said…
Actually? I think we need to realize that this world is changing and the Internet is a huge part of that change. Over and over I've watched programs like the evening world news and the morning news programs and they've referred to the emails sent in by viewers expressing their beliefs and opinions. On the NBC world news, for example, those emails made an impact--people complained about all the bad news NBC shared nightly so now they're sharing a good, positive story each night before signing off. Emails *do* make an impact and that's just one example. Another was the poll about leaving "in God we trust" on our money--peoples' votes to keep it became a news article in newspapers and everywhere online.

It's time that we face it-- things are not as they used to be and will never go backward: the Internet has become a powerful tool and is being used to make changes most of us will never fully realize for it's so widespread. Blessings, Debra
Patty said…
Debra,
this is not talking about NOT using the internet for such purposes as making aware certain things, it was about the definition of the folks that ONLY take action by the computer, and neglect to make changes in their own lives. Say they send out petitions for something related to the use of fossil fuel but drive a Hummer or big huge SUV and do nothing else to cut down on their own fossil fuel consumption. We are talking about folks that give lip service, hypocrites. Not the ones that use the computer to spread the word or use it for social changes

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