Activists Are Hidden (Blog Post #4)

Algorithmic criticism is the act of taking formulas that have been implanted to make life more efficient and looking into how they were made to see if any assumptions were planted without proper evidence to support it. In essence, anything can be false. In order to be better consumers of media through these algorithms, we must deny their objectivity and choose to question them. It’s crucial we see that there’s a dynamic of what makes the most profit, who is in power, what is the algorithm trying to accomplish, and is it actually the truth? ¹ In the era of fake news, we must continue to be skeptical of everything. 

The Long Civil Rights Movement impacted the 1930s because it was expanding at that time. There were crucial strides in Black liberation and the beginning of the demand for new rights. None of them gained as much traction as they have now, but they were still taking place and gaining members. The NAACP’s anti-lynching campaign encouraged Roosevelt to fulfill their desires.

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The communist led International Labor Defense also rallied for African-American rights at the time and aided them with lawyers and other essentials they needed to continue their fight for equal rights. The groundwork laid for the future is evident. The organizations and their goals from the 1930s are still implemented today. 

I do think there are connections with the digital activists and the WPA activists. Both of them are attempting to see the structures in place and ask: How can I show, through art and the things we already have, how these structures are misguided and have underlying implications?

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. I think that any artist is in someway, an activist. And I think glitching can be considered an art or artistic in nature. So, by extension, they are activists. They may not be applying the same topics but they intend to achieve the same goal. 

All of these activists were quiet or silenced for the majority of the 1930s but they chose to keep fighting for the equal rights we are still striving for today.

1. O’Neil, Cathy. The Truth About Algorithms. Nice Shit Studio, Vimeo, 17 Oct. 2018, vimeo.com/295525907.
2. Library of Congress. “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom The Segregation Era (1900–1939).” The Segregation Era (1900–1939) – The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom | Exhibitions – Library of Congress, Library of Congress, 10 Oct. 2014, www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/segregation-era.html.

3. Kramer, Michael J. “Glitching History: Using Image Deformance to Rethink Agency and Authenticity in the 1960s American Folk Music Revival.” Current Research in Digital History, 1 Jan. 2018, crdh.rrchnm.org/essays/v01-08-glitching-history/.