A 

few days ago, I came 
across an op-ed in The 
New York Times, “Angry 

Tweets Won’t 
Help 
African 

Lions,” where 
the 
author, 

Richard 
Conniff, 
implores 
people to do more than just 
tweet angrily about issues they 
care about. Last year, as Conniff 
pointed out, when Zimbabwe’s 
prized lion, Cecil, was shot by a 
Minnesota dentist, organizations 
condemned 
the 
doctor 
and 

people took to social media, 
expressing 
outrage 
over 
the 

lion’s killing and the larger issue 
of “trophy hunting” — selectively 
hunting game and often keeping 
parts of the animal as a trophy. 
Conniff emphasizes that simply 
expressing anger and frustration 
over an issue is not enough.

And he is right. We need to 

do more than express anger 
through tweets or simply show 
solidarity 
through 
changing 

our profile pictures. But those 
are places to start, and we’d do 
well to encourage it and suggest 
more ways to help. It is time 
that we embrace the power of 
social media and use it. Just as 
words aren’t enough alone to 
change a situation, criticizing 
those who are trying to help a 
cause stops short of the real issue 
surrounding social justice. We 
should be saying: This is great, 
and we want more. Though I 
do not love certain aspects of 
social media, there is no question 
that it is powerful. News and 
information are traveling faster 
than ever before through these 
channels. I find out about events 
and read articles I wouldn’t 
have if they hadn’t popped up 
on Facebook and other forms of 
social media.

So, 
instead 
of 
criticizing 

people for changing their profile 
pictures to show their solidarity 
with France or for tweeting their 
anger about the killing of Cecil 

the Lion, we must acknowledge 
that these things are a start and 
then encourage people to take 
these steps further and use social 
media to share donation links, 
important petitions and articles. 
While we could be critical of 
social media all the time, there 
are ways in which we could 
utilize social media to progress 
dialogue about issues of social 
justice and to enact change, 
which is a crucial missing part of 
our dialogue.

Despite the ways that social 

media has changed our private 
lives and our relationships with 
friends and family, it can help 
spread the word about important 
causes and issues. As television 
and news stories focused the 
nation’s 
attention 
to 
police 

brutality against demonstrators 
during the civil rights movement 
in the ‘50s and ‘60s, today, 
images and stories shared over 
social media focus our attention 
on many causes, shining the 
spotlight 
on 
something 
that 

might otherwise be lost. Words 
can be a powerful way to begin a 
discussion.

Spending 
too 
much 
time 

dwelling on past times, and 
wishing 
away 
Facebook, 

Instagram and Twitter won’t 
do us any good. By the first 
few months of 2016, Facebook 
had 1.65 billion active monthly 
users, almost 20 percent of 
the 
world’s 
population. 
As 

of June 2016, there were 500 
million 
monthly 
Instagram 

users. Whether or not I am 
always happy with how these 

platforms have changed and 
shaped our society, social media 
is here now, and it would be in 
our best interest to work with 
these platforms and not against 
them. Furthermore, to reach 
the millennial generation and 
generations to come, which will 
be born in the age of rapidly 
expanding technology, we have 
to 
adjust 
and 
acknowledge 

social media’s large presence.

It’s time that we change our 

tune. I agree that throwing out 
a tweet about a recent tragedy 
or something we see as unjust 
isn’t where we should stop, 
but it does no good to brush 
someone aside because you 
don’t think they are doing 
enough. That can only shut 
down the conversation. There 
are so many issues that I want 
to help address, but I can often 
feel overwhelmed. Where do 
I start? How can I help? By 
bringing the conversation to 
mediums such as Facebook, it 
can help a big task feel more 
achievable, giving me more 
confidence that I can help make 
a change.

Conniff mentions in his piece 

that we need organizations, 
such as the United Nations, 
the 
European 
Union, 
etc., 

to put money toward causes 
such 
as 
saving 
endangered 

species. I agree, but one way 
we can go about achieving 
this 
goal 
is 
disseminating 

information and spreading the 
word through social media. 
And, 
who 
knows? 
Angry 

tweets could help jumpstart an 
important movement because, 
once issues begin to appear on 
social media, it helps put the 
issue on the world stage, raise 
awareness and fuel action to 
create legislation to address 
these issues. Instead of being 
critical and telling people they 
aren’t doing enough, we need to 
encourage them to do more.

—Anna Polumbo-Levy can be 

reached at annapl@umich.edu.

5
OPINION

Thursday, July 7, 2016

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Utilize the power of social media

Roland Davidson, Caitlin Heenan, Elena Hubbell, Jeremy 
Kaplan, Madeline Nowicki, Kevin Sweitzer, Brooke White.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

ANNA
POLUMBO-
LEVY

Two different Michigans
A 

Thrillist 
article 
from 

more than a year ago 
claiming that Michigan 

is 
the 
best 

state 
has 

reemerged 
and is being 
shared 
quite a bit on Facebook. The 
justification centers on tourism, 
boasting 
the 
rising 
brewing 

industry, the seemingly endless 
shorelines and the beauty of the 
Upper Peninsula. The article 
even guides readers unfamiliar 
with Michigan to “listen to the 
dulcet tones of Michigan tourism 
pitchman Tim Allen.”

As 
important 
as 
tourism 

is to the state of Michigan, I 
don’t think it’s fair to evaluate 
Michigan 
exclusively 
on 
its 

tourist attractions. Seeing such 
positive attitudes toward the 
state brings me joy. But I worry 
that by focusing on the positive 
aspects of Michigan, we will 
forget 
the 
negative 
aspects 

that cripple the lives of many 
poor communities. Michigan’s 
setbacks need to remain at the 
forefront of the discussion until 
we can begin to correct them.

We 
can’t 
overlook 
that 

Detroit and Flint both fall in 
the top three most dangerous 
cities in America. While parts 
of Detroit still carry the city’s 
rich history, and Midtown and 
Downtown continue to grow 
and develop, the school district 
and neighborhoods in the city 
are still falling apart. The city’s 
unemployment rate is still nearly 
10 percent, more than double the 
statewide and national rates of 
4.7 percent.

To 
make 
matters 
worse, 

Metro Detroit has the highest 
concentrated poverty rate of the 
top 25 metro areas in the country. 
The term “working poor” applies 
especially well to the area, as 
many of the impoverished people 
have jobs.

Urban poverty isn’t the only 

problem Michigan faces, as rural 
poverty is also a serious ailment 
plaguing the state. Eleven of the 
poorest counties in the state 
of Michigan are rural. Often 
referred to as the hidden poor, 
rural communities with high 
poverty rates often go unnoticed 
mainly because of their isolation 
from metropolises. Additionally, 
these rural communities are 
often the places suburbanites 

build 
their 
summer 
homes, 

pushing 
poor 
populations 

further into the shadows of 
beautiful lake houses and cabins.

Spending most of their time 

in Ann Arbor, I think many 
Michigan students, through no 
fault of their own, become blind 
to the economic struggles many 
residents 
in 
Michigan 
face. 

When we venture to Detroit, 
we visit downtown and take the 
expressway back to Ann Arbor. 
We see what tourists see when 
they visit Detroit: the bustling, 
gentrified areas of downtown 
where abandoned houses and 
crumbling schools are out of 
sight. We often miss the bigger 
picture, 
and 
consequently 

struggle to grasp the legitimate 
concerns that face the city and 
many parts of the state.

As a lifelong resident of the 

state of Michigan, I love the 
state I call home. I can’t wait to 
visit the microbreweries in my 
hometown when I turn 21. I love 
heading downtown to watch a 
Red Wings game. I can’t complain 
about the miles of sandy beaches 
that guard the outside of both 
peninsulas, either.

However, the aforementioned 

features are, as the Thrillist 
article indicates, major tourist 
attractions. Though tourism is 
a huge part of Michigan life, it 
is not the main part. Michigan’s 
endless shorline is not a valid 
excuse to ignore the economic 
problems that plague rural and 
urban regions of the state.

Perhaps these problems will 

be fixed over time, but, until they 
are, Michigan will remain home 
to two vastly different realities: 
one where craft beers, endless 
beaches and majestic wildlife 
are the main focus, and another 
reality where poverty and lack 
of economic growth are the 
dominating features. Celebrating 
Michigan’s 
vibrant 
tourism 

culture 
is 
understandable, 

but even in the midst of our 
celebration, we cannot overlook 
the significant setbacks many 
communities face. We may not 
have immediate solutions to 
these problems, and that is fine. 
But, until progress is made, the 
economic struggles that hurt 
poor communities cannot escape 
our evaluations of the state.

—Ryan Roose can be reached 

at rooserj@umich.edu.

Angry tweets could 
help jumpstart an 

important movement.

RYAN 
ROOSE

