It’s Your World, So Change It: Using the Power of the Internet to Create Social Change

9. Action Alerts and Online Petitions

“A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back—but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.”—Marian Wright Edelman

The old aphorism that actions speak louder than words is a pretty painful thing to hear when you’re dealing with a medium that’s made up mainly of words. But words can be actions if you hone them down to a sharp edge and point them in the right direction.

To quote the great American philosopher Cher: “Words are like weapons; / they wound sometimes.” On my desk I keep a little Nepali statue of the Tibetan Buddhist bodhisattva Manjushri, the patron saint of philosophers. In his right hand, he carries a flame-tipped sword. The sword isn’t for ...