The whole "France profile picture" thing on Facebook is uncomfortable to me

[Everlong]

It just feels so... shallow? Strange? I dunno how to describe it.

Someone posted something on Facebook that I agreed with in regard to this, saying "Tragedy is not a popularity contest." It just feels really weird that people are giving this most shallow gesture, overlaying a French flag on their faces, as a way to show solidarity. It's more of a social/political fashion statement than a statement of support, and it feels insensitive and narcissistic.

It's different than the whole rainbow flag overlay that people were doing when the Supreme Court ruled the gay marriage ban was unconstitituional. That was a celebration, showing support for a cause. At such a somber moment, this just feels really off to me.

Another issue that's arisen out of it is all of these people saying "well why didn't you put up the option to use a Lebanon flag overlay?" It's a legitimate question, but I hate how what was a misguided attempt at a kind gesture turns into the "suffering olympics," with all of these people bitching about who really has it worse. That's completely missing the point.

I dunno, just felt like ranting and seeing if anyone agrees.

[PorkChop]

An article in the Telegraph today:

"Paris attacks: How to change your Facebook profile picture, and other ways you can help"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -help.html

Changing your picture is helping?

[Daz]

I do not like branding tragedy, which is why I didn't use hashtags or jump in on the France flag profile picture. Also, a large number of people who did change their profile pictures, where the same people spouting "close the borders" and "all Muslims are terrorist" bullshit, which made it feel very transparent to me.

[Viazon]

I don't go for this sort of stuff either. Stuff like this is a good gesture I guess and I'm sure the people mean well. But once stuff like that starts getting noticed, people get criticized for not doing it. This echoes statements I made about the poppies. It's really just people wanting others to know how much they care so they can feel good about themselves. It doesn't help anything though and just because you don't do it, doesn't mean you don't care. It just eventually becomes a trend more than anything.

On this topic, here is a picture I found on reddit that perfectly illustrates my point.

[prophet]

I've changed my picture and don't see anything wrong with it. Just a nice little way to show support and solidarity in times of hardship, it doesn't help anything but that doesn't mean it's anything to be cynical about. I'm indifferent towards it in the grand scheme of things though, I doesn't bother me whether you've done it or not! :)

[Hanley!]

I think it's harmless. The thing that bugs me about it is that adding that overlay makes pictures kinda ugly. Though the more people who use them, the less jarring it looks.

It's a simple gesture, and sure it's not going to stop terrorism or anything, but it is a display of some sort of unity and togetherness. And that means something. It might not mean a huge amount to a lot of us, but seeing that online might be somewhat nice for the families of those who were killed - a demonstration that the world cares about what happened to them, and that the world is sympathetic to what they've been through.

In terms of why people are doing this for France instead of Lebanon, it's just because this is a bigger story over here. And there are a whole bunch of reasons why, both cynical and otherwise and I'm not going to get into that right now. Also, this seems to be something that Facebook decided to do - maybe it was started by people, I don't know. But I didn't photoshop a French flag over my profile picture: Facebook asked me did I want to use the overlay, I clicked a button and it did it for me. They didn't provide us with that option after other recent tragedies.

What I like about it actually is that the new pictures are temporary and will remove themselves after a few days without the person having to remove the overlay picture, and any potential guilt that might stem from that.

[Str8Shooter]

I didn't change my pic, I'm not even sure why, maybe I just didn't want to do what everyone else was doing. Maybe subconsciously I felt the same way Tim did about it.

I don't have a problem with people doing it though. It's ultimately harmless and shows your support. People are very cynical about social media stuff these days, so when Facebook does something like this it seems like the default position of some people is "what are they getting out of this?".

[AkydefGoldberg]

I've not added the overlay but I completely understand the genuine reasons people are doing it but as noted above, some of the same people are launching into anti-immigrant, anti-Islam rants so it makes it a tad hollow.

I'd imagine it's comforting for French people on Facebook to know many people across the world, encompassing different faiths/cultures/backgrounds have them in their thoughts and want to show that with a French flag on their profile picture.

[The Legend]

Here's my biggest problem with it or throwing your support behind this country or that country. There's no right or wrong in international or political conflict. It's all a matter of perspective one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and vice versa. Members of ISIS used violence against people living in France, now France is using violence against people in Islamic states. On one hand the same action is called horrific, on the other it's celebrated as righteous, really?

I really do wish we could go back to the way things used to be. The world's too small these days, everyone needs to retreat to their own little corner of it and just worry about making your little space, your little world as right and peaceful for you and others around you as possible and let everyone else deal in their own little corner.

[Str8Shooter]

Members of ISIS used violence against people living in France, now France is using violence against people in Islamic states. On one hand the same action is called horrific, on the other it's celebrated as righteous, really?

The difference is that ISIS attacked random people, who had nothing to do with any conflict with them or anybody, and indiscriminately killed them for no reason. France's air bombing attack was in response to that and strategically hit ISIS holdings.

[The Legend]

Members of ISIS used violence against people living in France, now France is using violence against people in Islamic states. On one hand the same action is called horrific, on the other it's celebrated as righteous, really?

The difference is that ISIS attacked random people, who had nothing to do with any conflict with them or anybody, and indiscriminately killed them for no reason. France's air bombing attack was in response to that and strategically hit ISIS holdings.

Yeah and France isn't going to cause any kind of collateral damage.

[UTK]

"There is something self-centered about this conversion of empathy into smarmery, something distasteful and perhaps worse about this mass impulse to put the “me” in “meme.” It is a kind of slacktivism. It is a kind of performance. It is a kind of posturing.
What it also is, though, is an act of mass compassion. Even more specifically: It is compassion that has been converted, via the Internet’s alchemy, into political messaging. It is empathy, quantified. Facebook, today, is awash in blue and white and red. The social network has become its own kind of flag."

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainmen ... ource=SFFB