The tone of my Facebook page has changed in recent months. Less frequent are the jokesy ‘mumma-on-the-edge’ updates and more frequent are updates linking to tragic, and at times unbelievable, stories.
I wonder if my friends welcome my somber and impassioned updates? My posts might be a rude and confronting awakening in between the cat memes and food photographs.
But I can’t help it. This is what is taking up most of my headspace. Pulling me away from my simple and safe life to a place where I compare myself to others and try to imagine what it must be like to stand in their shoes.
And as I try to digest what I read I can’t help but want to yell: “Look! Look at what’s going on in the world everyone! What are we going to do about this?”
But as one of my friends rightly commented recently, it’s hard to know what we can do to help. How can we make a difference when the horrific events we are witnessing are the results of such complex and deeply set issues?
I think the one thing we can do to help is to simply know.
Know that a United Nations school sheltering Palestinian families during the recent outbreak of fighting was shelled killing 15 people, including children, as they slept.
Know that in Afghanistan last week 14 people were pulled from a bus, blindfolded and killed because they were Hazara – an ethnic minority despised by the Taliban.
Know these things are happening in the world so we can stand back and see what humanity looks like. So we can see the disparity between our lives and others.
Thank god for social media. For the way it opens up the flow of information beyond the hands of just a powerful few. For the way it empowers those who are suffering, to tell their story to the world. Earlier this week I was transfixed by the tweets apparently coming from a 16-year-old girl living in Gaza.
And thank god for the journalists who are brave enough to venture to these places. Fergal Keane was one of the first journalists to go to MH17’s crash site. I held my breath as I read his tweets.
I do not know enough about international relations. Being an inhabitant of a predominantly homogenous island located on the arse-end of the world probably doesn’t help. Which gives me more reason to read, and read, and read. And share, and share, and share.
Last week a friend posted this on my timeline.
A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy (renouncing the nation’s dominant religion, Islam) was freed after intense international pressure. Pressure that was born from a collective voice of outrage. A collective voice that would have been non the wiser if her story hadn’t been told.
So I will keep reading and I will keep posting. And I will keep trying to understand the issues that lie behind some of the horrific stories that are so hard to comprehend against the backdrop of our randomly fortunate lives.
John James says
August 1, 2014 at 11:16 amI applaud your stance and I applaud your activism, but I have to be honest with you. I use social media to get away from these stories…
I read the news everyday – I know what’s going on in the world. And I agree it’s terrible and awful, but like a lot of people, I feel helpless. There’s no a lot I can do to stop these things happening.
But I don’t need to be reminded of these things over and over again, and that’s what can happen on social media.
This is why, personally, I don’t repost and retweet these stories. I don’t want to fill up my followers feeds with sad and bleak news stories that I know they’ve already seen (because the people I follow are smart and intelligent people who know about the world.)
But I’m not going to tell you stop sharing things – that’s not for me to do – and you’re absolutely correct – online activism can change things, like the woman from the Sudan.
We all use social media for different reasons. Some people use it to be social. Some people use it for activism. I use it for a mix of social contact and entertainment.
So, Lisa – I’m proud of you – and keep up the good fight – but I have to be honest – I tend to skip the bad news posts on social media, because that’s not what I’m on social media for.
Lisa Lintern says
August 4, 2014 at 1:29 pmI do feel like social media is a different ‘beast’ for me now. I once used it to share my ‘mumma-on-the-edge’ life with others, but it really has opened up so many other information paths for me.
Helen K says
August 1, 2014 at 6:08 pmInteresting Lisa. I agree with you – I do think that we need to keep focused and remind ourselves and others of what is going on, partly to help remember and connect in working out what role we can play in helping those suffering terribly. It also helps to remember how blessed many of us are, to raise our eyes above the frustrations of day to day lives and put them more in perspective. Hopefully in doing so, it can give us some energy to be part of the solutions. I do agree with John re. bombardment – I try to be selective with what I forward, and include ideas about what we can do (including writing to relevant politicians – which at times doesn’t seem effective unless you are someone who has worked in the public service and realise the impact of weight of numbers – in most cases). And also the positive stories of some who have been saved – it is important to keep remembering some good can come out of appalling situations. My main issues have been with the refugee treatment and with the treatment of those targeted by IS and others in Syria, Iraq, etc – the first because our government can do something so my voice and actions add weight, and the second because I think it has not been well recognised (although the release of Meriam is great news). With the Malaysian airline, I feel that international governments are doing what they can – I can mourn for those lost and their families, but cannot do a lot to help in the fighting – I can support those back here indirectly though).
Sorry for the waffling email, but I wanted to write it, as this way of thinking has helped me feel less powerless and more able to be part of the world and do my part. I thought it might help you too xx
Lisa Lintern says
August 4, 2014 at 1:33 pmThanks for your thoughts. Not waffle at all. xxx
Maria Tedeschi says
August 3, 2014 at 2:41 pm“I do not know enough about international relations. Being an inhabitant of a predominantly homogenous island located on the arse-end of the world probably doesn’t help. Which gives me more reason to read, and read, and read. And share, and share, and share.” YES, YES, YES.
Any time I go overseas, it’s not that I’m ignorant to the fact, but it does shine a light on how good we have it here and I do believe that we need to do more sharing what’s happening in the rest of the world.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
Lisa Lintern says
August 4, 2014 at 1:34 pmWhen I lived overseas it became very obvious to me how ‘less engaged’ Australians tend to be when it comes to international relations. My friends in Ireland are far more informed. xx