You never know if what you think is "Performative activism" might be someone's first steps into real activism. Encourage next steps, don't ridicule.

This isn't for the social media Influencers who are known to do meaningless performative activism. This is for random people on social media who may post something small you think might be performative.

I was always the person too afriad to speak up even when I felt strongly about something. I was too afriad to even do "performative" posts on social media. But eventually, I got enough courage just to share something online that stood up for what I believed in. That "meaningless" social media post was my first step. It scared me.

Did it make a difference in the cause it was supporting? No. But it made a difference in me. So I started sharing more, the more I did it, the less afraid I was and eventually started branching out into my community to actually try and make a difference.

Now today I am involved in actual action to try to make change and I'm continuing to get more involved.

So, if you see someone making a post you think is performative, comment something encouraging along with suggestions for thier next step. This post was inspired by the DDD on dollar bills people have been writing. Next easy step I can think of is printing immigration rights cards and handing them out. That's small, easy and can legitimately help someone.