a million times a trillion more (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dolorosa_12) wrote2025-06-17 01:08 pm
dolorosa_12) wrote2025-06-17 01:08 pm
Entry tags:
I wish this were an exaggeration
What I have seen, essentially wall-to-wall across social media, for the past week:
-'Why is no one talking about [this atrocity]?'
-'Why are people talking about [this injustice and not that injustice]?' (Often two different posts by two different people, in quick succession, with said injustices reversed.)
-'What you are doing in response to [this injustice] is insufficient.'
-'If you haven't mentioned [this atrocity] on your social media, you're part of the problem.'
-'If you've mentioned [this injustice and not that injustice] on your social media, you're a hypocrite and part of the problem.'
-'You're protesting the wrong way.'
-'Protesting when it's permitted by the state isn't real protest.'
-'These protests are all a bit cringe, aren't they?'
-'You're condemning [this atrocity], but not in the right way.'
-'You're condemning [this atrocity], but far too late.' (This coming, without irony, from the same people I witnessed several years ago saying, 'it's never too late to find courage and speak out publicly against [this same atrocity].')
What I have seen, in much smaller numbers — a little fragment struggling to stay afloat in the deluge:
-'[This injustice] is an injustice for these specific reasons, and here is something concrete that anyone reading/viewing this post can do to help.'
Needless to say, whenever I witnessed the latter, I actually did the things suggested, and felt much more of a sense of agency and purpose, than when I saw the former.
(And obviously I recognise the irony of being irritated by people complaining about what they see/don't see on social media rather than trying to offer concrete solutions to the consequences of major (geo)political injustices ... and then writing a whole post complaining about what I see/don't see on social media. But I am just. so. tired.)
-'Why is no one talking about [this atrocity]?'
-'Why are people talking about [this injustice and not that injustice]?' (Often two different posts by two different people, in quick succession, with said injustices reversed.)
-'What you are doing in response to [this injustice] is insufficient.'
-'If you haven't mentioned [this atrocity] on your social media, you're part of the problem.'
-'If you've mentioned [this injustice and not that injustice] on your social media, you're a hypocrite and part of the problem.'
-'You're protesting the wrong way.'
-'Protesting when it's permitted by the state isn't real protest.'
-'These protests are all a bit cringe, aren't they?'
-'You're condemning [this atrocity], but not in the right way.'
-'You're condemning [this atrocity], but far too late.' (This coming, without irony, from the same people I witnessed several years ago saying, 'it's never too late to find courage and speak out publicly against [this same atrocity].')
What I have seen, in much smaller numbers — a little fragment struggling to stay afloat in the deluge:
-'[This injustice] is an injustice for these specific reasons, and here is something concrete that anyone reading/viewing this post can do to help.'
Needless to say, whenever I witnessed the latter, I actually did the things suggested, and felt much more of a sense of agency and purpose, than when I saw the former.
(And obviously I recognise the irony of being irritated by people complaining about what they see/don't see on social media rather than trying to offer concrete solutions to the consequences of major (geo)political injustices ... and then writing a whole post complaining about what I see/don't see on social media. But I am just. so. tired.)
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There are so much more effective ways to build community, and to encourage action in support of courses that are important.
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when I want news about current events, I go to https://www.abc.net.au/news/justin or similar.
If I am on Dreamwidth or Tumblr or Mastodon, I am there for light-weight uplifting things, or fannish things, and I absolutely do not want to be reading about atrocities on Dreamwidth/Tumblr/Mastodon.
And keywords can filter out a lot, but only so much - people posting images of text without tagging them gets around keyword filters.
What I want to say to a lot of activists is "Do you realise that if people's fight or flight cortisol/adrenalin is always on, they burn out and become unable to do anything? Sometimes people need soft gentle online spaces to relax and enjoy"
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I really just wish that I wasn't living in a moment in which a large majority of people seem to believe that endless social media guilt tripping and signal boosting about atrocities is an effective (and indeed the most important) mode of activism. It's not. It induces despair, complacency, and a sense of atomised apathy. And, as you say, it causes burnout even in people inclined to help in a productive manner.
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I mean, yes, that's true and I do know that. But I have so little individual power or control over this world- I write and call "my" Republican Senators and my Representative, I voted, I encouraged others to vote, I contributed to campaigns, I amplify when there are messages about ICE being in areas of San Antonio, I contact companies when their policies are discriminatory, etc.
Anyway, I deleted her comment without responding because I'm not going to get into that conversation with her. But I do think about how to do effective but DOABLE things that are useful and practical. I don't know.
I just wanted to thank you for posting this because it has given me things to think about.
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YOU'RE CRINGE
There's irony poisoned and then there's whatever this is.