Duarte, Andres (Week 2 Blog Post)

 How has the internet provided a platform for more socially aware forms of art?

The road to becoming a more socially aware person is a road that requires a lot of self-reflection and education on many topics, but the issue with achieving this level of social and class-consciousness is the fact that many of these ideologies and beliefs are very difficult to access for those who cannot afford higher forms of education. Though this does not necessarily mean that uneducated people cannot be socially aware and progressive, but lack of education is a large contributor to racial stigmas and practices. With the age of the internet upon us, or as referred to by Zapata in her article, "Web 2.0", access to this information and social movements have become more accessible than ever. With the world being more interconnected than ever before, a simple hashtag is enough to create a snowball effect of progressive movements. Movements such as the #MeToo and #BLM were only possible through world wide platforms that allowed for people with similar ideologies and life experiences to make their voices heard throughout the world. Prior to the 1990's social injustices, such as the unfair murders of black, brown, LGBTQ+, etc. people, would often go overlooked by most of society, with no progress to be made, but in todays day and age videos exposing corrupt officers, live testimonies, and informative infographics no longer get swept under the rug by the ruling class who would much rather maintain the status quo than potentially jeopardize their position of power. Victims such as Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Trayvon Martin, among many more, have been immortalized and now stand to challenge the oppressive systems that the government and wealthy class have sought to maintain for so many years. The internet allows for anyone to be able to access this information. Though this era has led to an age of misinformation and echo-chambers, it is an undeniable fact that progressive movements are now able to reach a larger audience than ever before. Though the world still has a long way to go for many social injustices, voices no longer have to become lost to time.