People jump on bandwagons — and the counter-protest against the Westboro Baptist Church picketing was no exception.

On Oct. 19, the WBC picketed at Cupertino High School and Apple Headquarters. Prior to the event, students were encouraged to attend a student-organized counter-protest. Through social media such as Facebook and Tumblr, students from all schools were notified about the counter-protest and asked to help with painting posters and wear purple to represent anti-bullying.

Admittedly, this event came to attention on short notice, so Facebook events and Tumblr posts may have been the quickest way to contact as many people as possible and call them to action.  Using these specific media outlets, however, students were able to know beforehand whether or not their friends were going, which makes the event more of an I’ll-go-if-you-go sort of thing.

The Tumblr Blog was set up on Oct. 16, and within three to four days, a total of 16 posts consisting of information on the WBC and their reason for coming, schedules for the event and answers to questions were uploaded. One particular post reporting the finalized schedule of the counter-protest received up to 86 notes, which includes comments, likes and reblogs. In addition, over 1000 people replied “attending” to the Facebook event for the counter-protest set up by CHS senior Al Hassani. If getting so many RSVPs on a Facebook event and notes on a Tumblr post is not representative of hype, then what is?

From the area closer to the actual conflict, there was a legitimate clash of values, with community members passionately yelling at the WBC members and actively protesting their cause.  But because most students were immediately ushered into the Quad as soon as they arrived, they were prohibited from standing near enough to the site of conflict and were prevented from perceiving how serious the situation actually was.  Many did not even see the WBC members in action. From inside the perimeters of the Quad, the event seemed much more like a social gathering than a peaceful counter-protest to spread the love for people affected by the behavior of the WBC. People ended up just dancing around to music, chatting with friends and sporadically drifting in and out of the event.

The counter-protest was a noble idea; conceptually, it raised awareness for the cause. But did we give the protesters what they wanted by bringing so much attention to the event?  People hopped on the bandwagon and participated, but not necessarily because they were passionate about it. The event coordinators should have better utilized the large crowd they attracted — there should have been a part of the counter-protest schedule allotted for people to share their actual feelings on the current situation through making relevant speeches or testimonies against the values that the WBC upheld. The Facebook and Tumblr advertising point stating that there would be “plenty of entertainment” at the event almost created an atmosphere of fun and lightheartedness, not conveying the significance of the WBC protest.

The event just turned out to be a whole bunch of hype.