04.13.08
A few thoughts on Asian American Student Conferences
Yesterday I attended NYCAASC (the New York City Asian American Students Conference) as a representative of Fallout Central, and provided my perspective on their “Bloggers Panel.” In this panel, we went back and forth with the students on various aspects of blogging, some of which I thought were totally frivolous, and some of which I thought were a reflection of the intense curiosity in a lot of the students’ minds as to whether or not blogging is a serious tool for achieving social change. I am pretty mixed in how I feel about this as a whole. On one side, I am extremely encouraged that we had a full range of perspectives on the panel, going from totally non-confrontational and almost-non-activist blogging to reluctant-role-model-activism to full-on anti-racism leadership & services. I am extremely encouraged that all of these different levels of activism are represented among the myriad of bloggers out there because I believe that it’s altogether necessary for our community to have as abundant a list of perspectives as is possible so that each person can get better exposure to different ways of thinking.
On the other hand, I really wish there were more people out there doing what we’re doing here at Fallout Central. We recently launched our SERVICES page, where we list the full menu of services that FALLOUT CENTRAL provides.
Can blogging be a tool for progressive social change? The answer to that depends on the person behind the blog. Writing on your blog that something is offensive is one thing, but taking action to defend our community against that and fighting back is a totally different thing. Sadly, I didn’t get the impression that many individuals in the room that day were ready for that. Are you?