title taken from “Thankful” by Farmer Nappy
Are we over being triggered?
Whew! It seems that many of us have been on edge for years. With pandemics, genocides, global politics, and economic uncertainties we cannot look at social media without being bombarded with triggering content. We have access to so much information about world events that we are able to see a conflict from varying perspectives, which is a good thing. However, doom scrolling through IG or TikTok cannot be good for our mental health. So how can we stay sane while staying informed?
The biggest social media headline recently was about the genocide in Gaza under the hashtag #FreePalestine. For those who “don’t have enough context to form an opinion” (bombastic side eye), for decades Israeli forces have been systematically exterminating the Palestinians occupying the West Bank. The prevailing narrative is that this is a war over who are the rightful inhabitants of this region. The more likely reason is to ensure there is no way for the Palestinians to form a sovereign nation if they are geographically unsettled.
Photo cred: Al Jazeera
But what kicked off the latest round of aggression? On October 7, 2023, according to Jewish news outlets “Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — slaughtering babies, committing sexual violence, burning whole families alive, and taking 240 civilians hostage. Hamas murdered more than 1,200 Israelis during the attack.”
This incited Israel to launch a full-scale attack for over fifteen months, despite nations threatening to stop supplying military equipment if Israel did not stop the assault. Finally, on January 19th, both Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and released hostages.
Despite the somewhat peaceful ending to the Gaza conflict on the 19th, on January 27th, social media exploded with news of a deadly attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The M23 rebels, so named by the belief that the peace agreement of March 23, 2009 was not upheld, marched into the key city of Goma and declared it under their control. This move by the rebel group, believed to be supported by neighboring Rwanda, initiated three days of clashes between them and Congolese armed forces resulting in more than 100 people killed and nearly 1,000 people in Goma wounded.
Phot Cred: News 24
Doctors Without Borders said in a statement that its team in Goma is treating the influx of wounded at Kyeshero Hospital.
“We are getting a large number of calls from injured and wounded people who feel lost and abandoned. Humanitarian workers must have safe access to meet people’s most urgent needs, such as food, healthcare, electricity and safe drinking water,” said Francois Moreillon, head of the ICRC’s delegation in the DRC, calling on the parties to the conflict to abide by international humanitarian law.
Last year, social media activists called for a smartphone purchase pause to curb the demand for cobalt. Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles use rechargeable batteries that are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Of course, it’s hard to tell capitalists not to spend, so the movement was sadly unsuccessful.
One of the main purveyors of cobalt for EVs is Tesla, led by fascist- I mean, businessman Elon Musk. The Tesla and X CEO recently made headlines after vehemently performing a nazi salute. His supporters attempted to downplay the act as an autistic twitch, but non-stupid people know exactly what this was and that it was intentional.
Musk made the gesture multiple times at the indoor inauguration of the new felon-in-chief. In the days following, Trump got to work signing executive orders laden with fascist ideologies.
“Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” (Jan. 20)
This reclassifies career federal employees and removes their civil service protections, which insulated them from political pressures, so that they may now be fired at will.
“Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” (Jan. 20)
The director of the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies are directed to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government. Agencies must report to the OMB director a list of all employees in DEI and “environmental justice” positions, as well as related committees, programs, activities, services and budgets.
This order recognizes “two sexes, male and female,” and mandates that the federal government assert biological distinctions between men and women and refer to individuals by their “sex” instead of their gender identity.
“Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” (Jan. 20)
This order denies citizenship to certain U.S.-born children whose parents are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Trump asserts these children are not covered by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.
I won’t even talk about the orders to revoke remote work and restore the death penalty.
Photo cred: Al Jazeera
With all of this news overwhelming our social media feeds, SocaSaySo and I had to ask: are we over being triggered? In the latest episode of BKRantandRave, we RANT about how the overwhelming headlines and hashtags have affected us to the point where we are always on edge. Is this a byproduct of the abundance of information or an intentional ploy to keep us distracted and isolated?
Regardless of the reason behind feeding us negativity, it is important to find positivity in real life. Go for a walk, talk to your friends, or binge the BK Rant and Rave podcast - whatever gives you peace in these uncertain times.
