Power is a Beautiful Thing

It has never been easier to communicate, voice opinions, or garner support, than it is right now. Social media has become influential in affecting change all over the world, from causing Bank of America to drop its debit card fees to the protests and government upheavals of the Arab Spring.

When I had first heard of Susan G. Komen’s decision to halt funding for Planned Parenthood, I was beyond disgusted. Here was an organization whose main philosophy was about providing quality preventative healthcare to women across the country, and they were severing their partnership with an organization that is effective in doing so. Let’s forget about the abortion issue for the time being (since many Planned Parenthood sites don’t even offer abortion services and its main focus is to help women get quality healthcare when they need it and cannot afford it), Planned Parenthood offers healthcare and breast cancer screenings to women of all walks of life, with or without health insurance (I’ll also forego discussing health care in this country because really, I could go on forever). Komen’s partnership with Planned Parenthood made sense. I couldn’t believe that a charity for which I had an immense amount of respect would bow to political pressure and bullying. They had decided to withdraw their money and support of Planned Parenthood, thereby hurting thousands of women, just because they didn’t agree (or more likely, had big-time supporters who didn’t agree) with one service Planned Parenthood offers.

So, how did I hear about this decision? It wasn’t from The New York Times or CNN.com. It was through social media, Facebook to be exact. Many of my friends had expressed their disappointment with Komen by sharing articles on the issue. Twitter just about exploded with responses, both good and bad. And today, just 2 days after the announcement that it would stop funding Planned Parenthood, Komen announced they have reversed that decision. I can’t help but think this is in response to the huge backlash they received via social media. Instead of writing letters to the organization in vain, a time consuming effort if nothing else, social media allowed the public to voice their disappointment and withdrawal of support within minutes of the announcement, allowing Komen to reverse its decision before it was too late. It’s a prime example of just how powerful people can be when they come together for (or against) a cause. Very inspiring. Very beautiful.