"Sticks in a Bundle are Unbreakable"

by Jonathan Lewis
Founder/host iOnPoverty

Like many of my baby boomer generation -- raised in the civil rights and anti-war activism of the sixties -- I have had dark days of disbelief about hash tag activism. The notion that texting will establish economic justice seems farfetched to me.

Then, as if designed to unmoor my skepticism, the Arab Spring pops up -- a dynamic marriage of cyberspace communications and personal courage.

On the downside, there is cyber-bullying to consider. Romney's high school meanness can be easily amplified by Internet anonymity.

On the upside, factor in the online organizing which brilliantly elected America's first black president.

In the case of iOnPoverty, does a Facebook "like" carry the commitment equivalence of actually joining up, donating, doing something tangible? Not even a close call. But a "like" is sure as hell better than a dislike.

A Facebook "like" or a Twitter follower begins a conversation. In age of cynicism, it establishes community, albeit a loose and nascent one.

Rajasvini "Vini" Bhansali, the super-charged, super-smart CEO of the International Development Exchange (IDEX), recently talked with me on camera about community and coming out as a 19-year-old "queer woman like me." ...read more