How many will support a petition to end petitions?

A few years ago, I had included in the syllabus a reading on the crisis in Darfur--this was back when it was a major problem.  I provided students with a map of Africa, with the outline of the political boundaries of countries without their names, and asked them to identify Sudan and a few other countries.  One student later wrote in an assignment how she had passionately signed up to the Save Darfur campaigns without ever caring to find out where exactly that place called Darfur was in the real world.

I think that her experience is not uniquely about Darfur alone.  I am willing to bet that the other favorite slogan, "Save Tibet," will also show a similar one--most passionate petitioners wouldn't be able to identify Tibet on a map.

The issue is not about simply geographic illiteracy either. While geographic illiteracy is one reason, I suspect the larger reason is that way too many people sign on to way too many petitions without really thinking through. They do that because maybe it just feels right.  Or their peers do it.  Or whatever.  Signing on to a petition is rarely a decision based on acquiring relevant information and thinking through.

I have always been suspicious of petition drives.  Even when the petition is on issues I care about.  Further, signing a petition means that we want to emphasize that issue, whatever it might be, as a much higher priority than most other issues of the day.  But, how do we know that deserves a top billing?  What are the tradeoffs that I am looking at?  Not that I never sign petitions; I do.  But, only after I carefully examine the argument and if I find that it is being ignored despite its importance and severity.

Two academic presidents--one of Lewis and Clark, and the other of Northwestern--write about taking "a vow against joining the lists":

we eschew petitions because, as researchers and teachers, we know that any important issue deserves more serious thought and discussion than can be captured in a list of demands. 

Exactly!  Especially when we are in the very business of critical thinking, right?

They note how many of the petition drives originate from change.org.  And they note the irony of it all:

Click around the website Change.org, the organization from which several of our petitions come, and you'll find photos of 164 employees. A page labeled "We're Hiring!" lists more than two dozen additional positions. "Like most companies," the site proclaims, "Change.org has a business model that allows us to grow rapidly and be financially self-sustaining, providing tens of millions of people with a free empowerment platform for change."
Change.org also sells advertising—though it calls them "sponsored petitions." We're considering buying one that calls for divestment in companies that propagate petitions. We suspect others will enthusiastically sign on.

Yes, a hilarious Monty Pythonesque petition to end petition drives.  Like a bumper sticker that I once saw on the car that was ahead of me: I hate bumper stickers!