In the interest of full disclosure, while I intend on being critical about our Nation’s perception of international tragedy, I in no way mock the severity of these events or belittle the way these victims are able to persevere in ways I think myself incapable. So read this entry carefully before sending me any kind of ridiculous critiques or question my morals or sensitivity.
In the wake of a disastrous Earthquake that has brought one of the World’s strongest Nations (in every fathomable sense) to it’s knees; I was having a discussion with my very best friend about the very topic. In the discussion I made the statement “I am sick of hearing about these International tragedies.” By that, I mean that whenever a Natural Disaster or Political Uprising threatens the lives of a country less fortunate than ours; websites like Tumblr & Twitter are aglow with false empathy & trendy protest. Haiti, Egypt, Libya, & now surely Japan are all prime examples.
Now obviously, you could easily question what qualifies me to decide who’s concern is legitimate & who’s is purely for the sake; though before you finished that thought, I’m sure you could think of examples of Tumblr posts that were constructed by someone who seems emotionally connected to the issue & someone who just wants to look like Bono.
Scenario one - Someone posts a photo of a child clinging to a service pole as the waters rise around him. Below the photo is a brief account of this child’s particular incident, and a link to either a donation site or hotline.
Scenario two** - A heavily edited/doctored photo of some Japanese landmark (obviously an obscure one, lest we lose any “indie” street cred, even in Japan) with a Ghandi quote that the poster has both, never read before posting, and is doing so only after googling “Ghandi Quote.” Only after finding one that is vaguely poignant to the situation, can they truly look like they give a sh*t. Below their photoshopped philanthropy, there will be some sort of snide/hair-brained remark, critical of either our, or the respective Nation’s handling of the crisis, penned only after skimming the CNN.com headlines page for the least amount of information required for a confrontational facebook status.
If I still have your attention, I know you’re donning a grin as you can easily name followers of yours, guilty of this. It’s shameful that in this country, we need to consider taking a break from the internet until a Tragedy dies down, purely because all the fake concern makes us realize how detached our people are. If you look at past tragedies or movements, you wonder if they’d have reached the same outcome in a modern setting. Would the civil rights movement have played out with such an urgency & perseverance had our current generation been a part of it? Would the holocaust be forever revered as the darkest time in all of humanity if 16 year olds in unprescribed horn-rim glasses were making glittered gifs for their blogs about it? It can be argued that these times WOULD have been easier given the ease of free-speech & the ability to wide-spread a message with the click of a button. However, technology has made it possible to be ambassadors, donors, & love-seat politicians without leaving our homes; kind of changes the definition of “action” does it not?
** - I’d also like to point out that anyone who prefaces a Disaster post with “If you don’t reblog, you don’t care about Haiti/Libya/Japan” doesn’t care about Haiti/Libya/Japan.
