This is an incredible piece. I've been thinking about how some of the most shocking and distressing images and videos from Gaza start to feel like memes, "the shaking boy," "the mom who had 580 injections to have her now-dead baby," "the dad giving his dead child biscuits." It's like we want these short videos to be a button we can press to get an emotional response, that somehow will lead to an end to the suffering. The videos and images take on their own life, maybe leaving the humans in them behind.
Thank you for writing this. Opponents of reform often bemoan politicking in the face of atrocity; “why do we have to politicize this, can’t it just be a tragedy.” Important to remember that those most directly affected by spectacular horrors often feel the same way — the problem is that they know it can’t, or else it will happen again.
I thought I would have more words to say, but all I have to offer is my gratitude to you for writing this. I am sorry for the loss of your father, I am sorry that western politics causes and exacerbates so much suffering. But I am grateful to know a bit of your story, and read your writing. Thank you,
The spectacle of grief also gets slotted into preconceptions Western media has/shapes about what happens, day to day, in certain geopolitical areas. Like Africa is perceived as one large country where suffering is perennial and there's no point sparing a tear for any specific suffering happening there (Sudan comes to mind right now) because it was never going to be any different. And since the suffering there is thus naturalised, it's often framed as miscellaneous tragedy rather than conflict, hence a focus on natural disasters or famines ("Eat your vegetables, there are kids starving in Africa"). And when corruption is talked about, I think there's an implicit, or sometimes explicit, framing that of course there's corruption because they're all black. The dominant Western media machine doesn't often allow for the spectacle of resistance in African countries (the big exception being South Africa, since it was resistance against white people) or just for talking about culture or the banalities of daily life.
Then I think the media machine perceives countries in the Middle East perhaps slightly more distinct from one another but not much, and as though what happens there is perpetual war and bombings, "terrorism" and such. I think there's a fraction more coverage of resistance there as well, the Arab Spring and such. But it's like, the West treats the Middle East as a dangerous enemy (which the US also extends to Central and South America) whereas it just sees Africa as a downtrodden place for resource extraction, so it makes sense to talk more about resistance in the former.
Then for atrocities like the current Armenian genocide I think there's a sort of blank about how to frame it emotionally, because most people don't know the dynamics of the region or even where it is geographically. So it barely gets reported on in the West, or when it does few people read it.
(Sidenote but the outsider perception of my own country is "omg Lord of the Rings, paradise on earth!" and when you live here we mostly think about our mouldy houses sold for $900k)
I've been wondering what motivates people to care about Palestine, outside of it being the right thing to do. Sadly (as I commented on a different article here under a different name) I think much of it is down to Western involvement; hence people like Caitlin Johnstone (who people keep fucking reposting lately) crying about Israeli murder of Palestinians but having cheered when Assad did it. Perhaps it's partly in response to the Zionism of the Christian Right, which is easily legible as a bad actor to Western progressives, or to how much punishment people get for speaking out--if you said a catch-cry to support oppressed people in Sudan you're probably not going to get fired about it.
The Palestinian genocide could be the worst atrocity happening globally right now, I don't know, it's obviously a high contender--but I also _wouldn't_ know, because a lot of regions wouldn't get a look-in anyway. People in Sudan or Armenia can't even commodify, or as that other commenter said memeify, their grief to mobilise people because their grief is not remotely legible to the West. And again, Palestinian suffering is not legible to a lot of people except when it's being caused by Israel--and as you said, only spectacular variants of that suffering are seen as compelling. It's all fucked up.
Idk I'm still trying to sort through thoughts about it, and this is very long, so my apologies if I've said anything off.
I think a lot about how increased globalization has affected peoples' ability to empathize. I often wonder if we are beginning to see a shift in a human's ability to hold compassion for others.
For a long time, humans really only had to care about a small group of people-- those they were immediately surrounded by-- and could get through most of their life only caring about their own "tribe" because everyone was in survival mode (I'm talking like hunter/gathering era).
Then we began to globalize, often through brutal means. Humans had not outgrown the "survival of the fittest" mindset and because they didn't have to face the repercussions of their actions directly, it made it easier for states (think Ancient Rome) to pillage and take over entire communities (though to be true to history, not all merging of cultures were violent even if a lot were).
Now, in the new Information Age, we are able to see much more clearly the outcome of our actions, the actions of our state/government, and the actions of other states/governments. Unfortunately, it is taking some time for humanity as a whole to adjust their "empathy meter" so to say, to be able to hold compassion for the growing population.
This is not to excuse those who still think very tribally and are able to easily dismiss the suffering of others (or are only able to confront the suffering when they are able to see it). It is more to point out the fact that we may be in the midst of a shift where, despite the fact that it is not ideal, humanity still needs to be visually shown suffering to sympathize because not everyone's ability to abstractly think about others has caught up with the demand that globalization demands of us.
Don't lose hope though (this is to myself and others). There were many enlightened humans before us who were able to learn to have compassion for all living beings at all times and I think that it seems like that the number of people with this capacity is growing. Even if it is at a painfully slow rate.
I apologize in advance if anything I said was inappropriate or ignorant and I invite anyone to correct me if they feel it's warranted. My ideas around global suffering and political activism are not even close to fleshed out. It is very much a world that I am new to.
Sending love out to you and all other 8 billion people walking the Earth with us now!
Thank you so much for writing this, and my condolences to your losses. I’ve been noticing this same phenomena in myself, that I’ve become de-sensitised to the images I’m seeing from Palestine and trying to figure out a way I can keep myself empowered instead of so powerless. Again and again Dr Hala Alyan’s words ring in my head, that Palestinians are forced to audition for our empathy with their tragedies. It’s exhausting for any Arab/Muslim ally in this movement to have to dredge up their own terror from lived experience in the hopes of galvanising support from those in power, or to even just get one more regular person to publicly support Palestine.
ive been thinking about this essay almost every day since i read it. thank you for writing and publishing it, and sharing your own experiences. i’m sorry for your loss.
This is an incredible piece. I've been thinking about how some of the most shocking and distressing images and videos from Gaza start to feel like memes, "the shaking boy," "the mom who had 580 injections to have her now-dead baby," "the dad giving his dead child biscuits." It's like we want these short videos to be a button we can press to get an emotional response, that somehow will lead to an end to the suffering. The videos and images take on their own life, maybe leaving the humans in them behind.
Thank you for writing this. Opponents of reform often bemoan politicking in the face of atrocity; “why do we have to politicize this, can’t it just be a tragedy.” Important to remember that those most directly affected by spectacular horrors often feel the same way — the problem is that they know it can’t, or else it will happen again.
I am sorry, also, for the loss of your father.
I thought I would have more words to say, but all I have to offer is my gratitude to you for writing this. I am sorry for the loss of your father, I am sorry that western politics causes and exacerbates so much suffering. But I am grateful to know a bit of your story, and read your writing. Thank you,
The spectacle of grief also gets slotted into preconceptions Western media has/shapes about what happens, day to day, in certain geopolitical areas. Like Africa is perceived as one large country where suffering is perennial and there's no point sparing a tear for any specific suffering happening there (Sudan comes to mind right now) because it was never going to be any different. And since the suffering there is thus naturalised, it's often framed as miscellaneous tragedy rather than conflict, hence a focus on natural disasters or famines ("Eat your vegetables, there are kids starving in Africa"). And when corruption is talked about, I think there's an implicit, or sometimes explicit, framing that of course there's corruption because they're all black. The dominant Western media machine doesn't often allow for the spectacle of resistance in African countries (the big exception being South Africa, since it was resistance against white people) or just for talking about culture or the banalities of daily life.
Then I think the media machine perceives countries in the Middle East perhaps slightly more distinct from one another but not much, and as though what happens there is perpetual war and bombings, "terrorism" and such. I think there's a fraction more coverage of resistance there as well, the Arab Spring and such. But it's like, the West treats the Middle East as a dangerous enemy (which the US also extends to Central and South America) whereas it just sees Africa as a downtrodden place for resource extraction, so it makes sense to talk more about resistance in the former.
Then for atrocities like the current Armenian genocide I think there's a sort of blank about how to frame it emotionally, because most people don't know the dynamics of the region or even where it is geographically. So it barely gets reported on in the West, or when it does few people read it.
(Sidenote but the outsider perception of my own country is "omg Lord of the Rings, paradise on earth!" and when you live here we mostly think about our mouldy houses sold for $900k)
I've been wondering what motivates people to care about Palestine, outside of it being the right thing to do. Sadly (as I commented on a different article here under a different name) I think much of it is down to Western involvement; hence people like Caitlin Johnstone (who people keep fucking reposting lately) crying about Israeli murder of Palestinians but having cheered when Assad did it. Perhaps it's partly in response to the Zionism of the Christian Right, which is easily legible as a bad actor to Western progressives, or to how much punishment people get for speaking out--if you said a catch-cry to support oppressed people in Sudan you're probably not going to get fired about it.
The Palestinian genocide could be the worst atrocity happening globally right now, I don't know, it's obviously a high contender--but I also _wouldn't_ know, because a lot of regions wouldn't get a look-in anyway. People in Sudan or Armenia can't even commodify, or as that other commenter said memeify, their grief to mobilise people because their grief is not remotely legible to the West. And again, Palestinian suffering is not legible to a lot of people except when it's being caused by Israel--and as you said, only spectacular variants of that suffering are seen as compelling. It's all fucked up.
Idk I'm still trying to sort through thoughts about it, and this is very long, so my apologies if I've said anything off.
I think a lot about how increased globalization has affected peoples' ability to empathize. I often wonder if we are beginning to see a shift in a human's ability to hold compassion for others.
For a long time, humans really only had to care about a small group of people-- those they were immediately surrounded by-- and could get through most of their life only caring about their own "tribe" because everyone was in survival mode (I'm talking like hunter/gathering era).
Then we began to globalize, often through brutal means. Humans had not outgrown the "survival of the fittest" mindset and because they didn't have to face the repercussions of their actions directly, it made it easier for states (think Ancient Rome) to pillage and take over entire communities (though to be true to history, not all merging of cultures were violent even if a lot were).
Now, in the new Information Age, we are able to see much more clearly the outcome of our actions, the actions of our state/government, and the actions of other states/governments. Unfortunately, it is taking some time for humanity as a whole to adjust their "empathy meter" so to say, to be able to hold compassion for the growing population.
This is not to excuse those who still think very tribally and are able to easily dismiss the suffering of others (or are only able to confront the suffering when they are able to see it). It is more to point out the fact that we may be in the midst of a shift where, despite the fact that it is not ideal, humanity still needs to be visually shown suffering to sympathize because not everyone's ability to abstractly think about others has caught up with the demand that globalization demands of us.
Don't lose hope though (this is to myself and others). There were many enlightened humans before us who were able to learn to have compassion for all living beings at all times and I think that it seems like that the number of people with this capacity is growing. Even if it is at a painfully slow rate.
I apologize in advance if anything I said was inappropriate or ignorant and I invite anyone to correct me if they feel it's warranted. My ideas around global suffering and political activism are not even close to fleshed out. It is very much a world that I am new to.
Sending love out to you and all other 8 billion people walking the Earth with us now!
Thank you so much for writing this, and my condolences to your losses. I’ve been noticing this same phenomena in myself, that I’ve become de-sensitised to the images I’m seeing from Palestine and trying to figure out a way I can keep myself empowered instead of so powerless. Again and again Dr Hala Alyan’s words ring in my head, that Palestinians are forced to audition for our empathy with their tragedies. It’s exhausting for any Arab/Muslim ally in this movement to have to dredge up their own terror from lived experience in the hopes of galvanising support from those in power, or to even just get one more regular person to publicly support Palestine.
ive been thinking about this essay almost every day since i read it. thank you for writing and publishing it, and sharing your own experiences. i’m sorry for your loss.