A Frikkin Hashtag: #ToSeekJusticeIWill

My wife tbV [aka The Beautiful Val] has spent most of the last year pulling together the first Justice Conference in South Africa. This week’s game coincided with the conference so i decided to use the theme for a really positive game. And you all played along…

[The Story So Far: Every Wednesday at 12 noon South African time [6am EDT] an inspired and growing number of brilliant, creative and absolutely fun people from all around the world take part in what is called a Hashtag game. @AFrikkinHashtag [say it out loud] is South Africa’s #1 Hashtag game and is always a lot of fun. The F.L.O.P. [or Fish List Of Prizeworthyness] is the collection of some of the best tweets from each week’s game and is what all seriously comedic Hashtaggers aspire to…]

It was quite a serious tag for @kellielovesbook to jump into for her first AFH co-host but she was super game and so we went for it.

As per usual we sent out some invites:

We were really hoping that people would be up to a more serious tag. The Twitterer can be an amazing place but [like any social media] also there be trolls. The Hashtagging Community i have discovered to be filled with incredible souls [especially the crew we have who help me co-host AFH every week, but so many others as well] and on the whole generous and fun and good-spirited and this game really highlighted a lot of that. i was a little worried it would become a bit of a Trumpfest [like every other game] but people largely stayed away from that and really dug deep and it was quite inspiring.

Another hope was that as we were sitting behind screens of different shapes and sizes, that we would look around us and be aware of areas that need justice in and around our lives and ask what we can be doing with our time, money, resources and skills, to help lift someone else up.

#ToSeekJusticeIWill do my best to listen better, before responding, without being defensive to really hear what someone else is saying.

#ToSeekJusticeIWill join the #NotOnOurWatch movement & commit to stepping into moments of Injustice, refusing to leave them unchallenged.

My co-host Kellie dived right in with a great blend of serious and just the right amount of comedy

Some of our favourites bots took the bait:

And you know what’s coming next. So many super great tweets that we couldn’t grab or even see them all… but those we did that we really liked made it on to this week’s

FISH LIST OF PRIZEWORTHYNESS [F.L.O.P.]

John, who incidentally is one of my favourite players started us off on this one with a personal challenge:

Toya highlighted the importance of speaking up and out:

i love how Richard framed this. Everyone has a voice and so we can never speak up for the voiceless, but there are definitely many whose voices have been silenced and there is a great need to be on the lookout for opportunities there:

Dave added to that the importance of presence – sometimes just showing up is the best of starts:

John was back looking beyond the symptoms to the systems and structures which need to be redesigned:

Dreamweasel added his voice to adding your voice:

Grendel suggested a peaceful approach:

Daryl gave us an important reminder that this thing may not always be comfortable:

Some more from John who was looking deeply in the mirror:

Our resident Twitterer artist Patty illustrated this Hot Rockz tweet

Cynical proved not to be with this simple statement that applies to us all

Silent K suggested an interesting negotiating strategy:

Cattsy scored misdirection take-an-extra-second-for-the-AHA-moment-on-this-one points, messing with the tag:

While Jeff was in a whole different world of his own

Jimish was this much moved by emotion:

Christian as well.

Grendel pointed to the fact that we can’t do this effectively by ourselves:

While Richard snuck in some Pun points for the same:

But Matt knew who his reinforcement would be:

Silent K was looking in a totally different place:

While Perv wanted to make it easier for everyone:

Dreamweasel spoke of the need to face up to other people’s realities which are often hard to see if they are not our own:

Barry spoke of the need for potentially costly steps:

Abed was all about consistency and clarity:

Finch showed she had a clear plan:

Both for others as well as herself:

AJ spoke to the need to keep an eye out for those viewed as less than:

Hot Rockz spoke of the need to back up talk with living:

Aaron might not be the hero we need, although possibly the one we deserve:

Grendel stepped boldly:

While Tom reached for serenity:

Sophie was willing to get her hands dirty:

Alexandra looked to make good use of her voice:

While Tal seemed to be facing a conundrum:

While there were no tweets that scored F.L.O.P. Tweet spot this week because there were just so many quality tweets on this list, these two final tweets of a slightly less serious nature deserve some special recognition for being brilliant…

Autovolt had us convinced with this one:

While Al took the cake [and ate it too] with this absolutely great Misdirectional tweet

Thanks all for making this what felt like one of the most significant and deeply authentic games AFH has ever hosted. Really enjoyed so many people taking some time to look both inwards and outwards and see where change is needed. And hopefully it translated a bit to real life. As you read these tweets again, be inspired to be seekers of justice. Don’t get dragged into being troll-like when faced with trolls but return love for hate and show them we’re better. Let’s work together to create a more just and even society.

[For those of you wondering what the Justice Conference was about, check out some of these quotes for a taste]