Anil Dash drives home a hard-hitting truth in his recent post entitled “Free Publicity“:

… the world I inhabit, at the intersection of tech and media, is far more obsessed with what Apple’s going to announce about its tablet. People who write about gadgets for a living gotta pay the bills, and I love cool stuff as much as the next guy. What leaves me at a loss, though, is how many otherwise sane and sensible people give their time and energy freely to help support a company like Apple that, despite its elegant designs and generally excellent products (I use many of them), certainly doesn’t need free PR from some of the most talented people on the web…

My goal here isn’t to browbeat anybody, or to lecture. I’m in the same boat as everybody else who loves technology. But my personal reckoning has just shown me that a bunch of libertarian-leaning geeks in Silicon Valley who refuse to engage with government and civic society at all are never going to make an impact on most of the things that actually make a difference in our lives. Everybody in Silicon Valley will tell you they have a gay friend, but they couldn’t stop Prop 8 or get the hate crimes bill passed. Probably everybody at Apple thinks “We should do more to support the arts!” but they weren’t funding the NEA. There will be no iTrain…

I’m gonna try to spend at least as much time advocating for issues I care about as I do for the purchase of new gadgets. I hope that even those who disagree with me on those issues do the same.

Yes, I tweeted about the iPad on the day of its launch.  But I also tweeted about RBus.in.  As a matter of fact, I routinely use all the resources available to me, to advocate for issues that matter to me.  Hell, this entire blog began on that premise!  But, I still think that Anil’s point is worth making.  Even if it only serves as a reminder to some of us.

If you have an idea… or a cause… that warrants advocacy, do every thing you can to make it happen.  Start a blog, post a tweet, shoot a short film… do whatever you can to spread the word. 

You’ll leave the world a better place by doing so.  And, that is way cooler than simply drooling over the latest gizmo, don’t you think?! 

Read Also:
Seth Godin : Rules for Ideas worth Spreading