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Help Save Hundreds of Lives

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Posted (edited)

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Just like Michelle Obama, you too can join the movement to save hundreds of lives. I'm talking about those precious, young lives of the kidnapped Nigerian girls who you didn't know existed at all until this brave movement. Take a photo of yourself holding up a piece of paper with the #BringBack hashtag. If it's too much work to hold up the photo, you can simply stand next to it. Or if you don't have a camera, you can still get active in this movement and  always just write the hashtag on a piece of paper and stand next to it. If you don't have a piece of paper, you can just imagine the hashtag in your mind. You'll be a really good person for it, just please take the second out of your day to change the world...

 

Let's keep this up, you guys and soon we can save innocent lives!

 

 

Hateful spoiler:

"Supporting" something with a photo of yourself, or online activism is the laziest, most self-righteously misguided thing a person can do, in my opinion. It's purely ego. Nothing else. Every reasonable person would probably think that it's a positive thing if the Nigerian girls ended up being safe and brought back home. No shit. Does it change anything to be vocal about it?. Using a tragedy to further your own ends - the liberal's hallmark, but it's not even for an actual belief or cause. Purely ego.

 

This kind of "activism" is the same as a selfish prayer. I don't really get praying for something, because you could be out trying to attain that goal with your own actions (or God's actions through you, which may the be how some see it). But still, lazy activism and passive "support" for things disgust me. "Joining a movement" is as easy as writing two words on a piece of paper". Does retweeting a "good" thing do anything? No. Besides maybe make you feel like a good person. Activism through social media is a disease. It's pressing a puppying button to feel like a good person.

 

Nigeria is its own puppying sovereign nation, thousands of miles away. Do you think any of the kidnapped girls are logging on to reddit or tumblr on their iPhones and seeing these hashtags? The kidnapper is probably gonna set the girls free, like a puppying Tumblr giveaway when the movement's post's notes reach 100,000. Probably. I mean it makes sense, right?

Kill yourself.

Edited by Iargely Iegendry (see edit history)
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Posted

Yeah this does nothing to actually help them :/

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Posted

Wow, Ammonsa, like... you mux like... want them to die, you terrible person

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Posted

I've been following this; about 50 or so? have been freed. I know I can't do anything about this, which is why I feel so angry and powerless. I haven't felt this angry since I read the story of some guy who chopped a kid's head off in a bus while everyone else ran away and didn't help him against this one guy with a knife.

 

At the very least I think spreading the word is good so the issue doesn't stay in the dark, but this social media approach is horrible, and pure publicity. Imaginary points and tweets of oversimplifications only understood by people who already know the story aren't helping anyone. I'm glad our government has decided to do something (Michele's gesture isn't the only thing they've done) and have actually sent people in. I know it's only a band-aid to a larger problem, but those girls don't deserve what they've been forced into. It's infuriating.

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Posted

Nigeria asked the US for help, we should not think that the US has to do something every time something bad happens.

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Posted

I was going to make an opinion on whether it's good or bad, but I honestly am in not caring mode in this instance. People can pretend to be activists all they like, whatever. I'm not totally skeptical about it, and I'd like to say that maybe it would have gotten the media and government attention even if people didn't talk about it, but what's the use in that kind of hypothetical chatter when it goes against human nature and the culture entirely? People will always talk and get self-righteous about stuff. It's just what happens, and I personally don't care how many people out there are swelling up their egos over it.

 

Like, what does it matter that a felled tree makes all the other trees in the forest shake momentarily when you're still able to walk peacefully through the forest despite it? The trees will shake and that's the fact of it. Don't shout at the tree to stop rustling, because you can't influence it. Be annoyed by it sure, but realise that you're just being unreasonable in your annoyance, and you obvs just care far too much about petty things like whether or not trees are rustling in the forest.

 

Although that metaphor doesn't account for the guilt trip people can put you on, because a tree can't choose not to rustle while it's neighbours rustle whispering "why aren't you rustling??". That just sounds silly. I made a bad metaphor.

 

Anyway yeah, people who guilt trip you for not joining a 'movement' are jerks, and you should just try and be happy in the assurance that you care, or as a matter of fact, that it's not even important that you do care. Like, I consciously know that it's bad, and it'd be nice if Nigeria wasn't such a terrible place in this respect, but it's not really any of my personal concern, so I'm not going to get too beat-up over it. If I dwell on the injustice of it, I'd eventually start to connect with the story and start to feel bad about it, but because there's nothing I can do I'm avoiding caring. I'll just silently wish them luck and hope for good news.

 

But because I don't care in any meaningful way, I also don't give 2 Hoot's about what people are up to online. What I do care about is analysing my own feelings about that, and that's why there are a few paragraphs here.

 

Like, you got any idea why you care, LL? I would guess like, maybe it's just the self-righteousness makes you feel like people think you don't care, or that you don't like the idea that you have to voice your feelings in order to validate them in the eyes of others? Like, why can't it be enough to just feel something without having to broadcast it? I dunno, they're your feelings. I know that this 'activism' is what you dislike, but I'm more interested in why you dislike it so much.


Also I see the irony in me asking you that because not long ago I was getting at Chase over stuff, and I'm sure if you were as long-winded as me about that, you'd have asked me why I cared about that. I guess I just wanted to be clever and make a point I thought was relevant at the time, and so it resulted in a micro discussion where I learned something. I like understanding my own opinions and those of others, so I guess that's what I really care about.

Don't mind me being self-indulgent again though. I'm just blogging here, more or less.

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Posted

I mean, regardless of who asked what, I think this is a universally bad thing. I don't care whose government it is, as long as someone's being dispatched to help these people, regardless of intention.

 

Really the reason I think this kind of advertisement is bad is that it makes people think they've done something when they really haven't done anything. Like, rather than encourage people to do something, it's more of a "good luck", which is a kind of meaningless gesture because action's the only thing that's going to get them through this. Like, you can pray all you want for someone to be safe, but it's not really doing anything. The fact that the prayer is public makes it feel like you're benefiting your image by someone else's despair.

 

I know that not everyone can do something about this, but someone who might be able to do something about it might be equally as content to just click "Like" or tweet with a hashtag. Making people believe that something will happen for nothing is a bad thing.

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Posted (edited)

It does bother me when people feel the need to publicize things. I call my friend out often because she can't simply experience a thing. She has to google it, post it to facebook, buy the poster of the thing, etc. I don't know if people know how to privately feel anything. This is why I can't bring myself to write a profile for social networks or whatever. I just get reminded of people who only do/like/feel things publicly. 

 

I am annoyed at things like this because I feel like it's incredibly insincere, methodical and arrogant.

 

•It's insincere in that the tragedy didn't happen to the individuals who "support" things like this. They cannot know how it feels until it happens to them. Maybe something similar has happened to them at some point, who knows? I'm not saying that they're wrong for wanting for tragedies like this to not happen, but this event is so far removed and unrelated to our lives. It's not real to us. So the extent that we are actually involved emotionally is probably pretty shallow. And you can't truly care about something that you aren't invested in, so I feel like for all of the talk that these "supporters" are doing, they'll forget about it soon enough. Not when the actual event comes to a conclusion, but when another tragedy takes the spotlight. Or even more importantly, when something specifically happens to the individual, even if it objectively pales in comparison to the tragedy in Nigeria. We all think about ourselves first and foremost, basically. If this had happened in the West, we would not stop hearing about this for literally decades. 

 

•It's methodical in that we think we can make a difference by mechanically spreading the word. I feel like the self-righteous are harvesting this event and everyone who "supports" it. We are manipulated into having an emotional response, time after time. Seeing lots of bad things on the news would normally make a person kind of desensitized to it. It's impossible for people to be truly invested in every form of suffering, everywhere on earth, ever. You'd just kill yourself out of depression. So I think people are choosy about which tragedies they are fans of. It's really annoying to see how all of the aftermaths play out to the respective tragedies. Everyone knew exactly how the elementary school's shooting would play out. It's incredibly exhausting to be farmed and harvested for endless empathy. It has the effect, on me at least, of draining my empathy. Because of how draining it is to be emotionally invested in every conflict or tragedy, the media has to do things like exaggerate, lie and use sensationalist tactics to snap people out of the apathy that they caused in the first place.

 

•It's arrogant in that we think we can make a difference. People who say "change the world" are inherently ignorant. It's pretty annoying to hear peoples' plans upon the world, as if they have everything figured out. They view tragedies are hiccups in their view of the world. They view them as a small miscalculation in their plan, rather than the rule or the norm. I am not saying that I like bad things to happen. What I am about to say is really illogical. But as an animal, I kind of like it when things are chaotic, because I feel like it puts the arrogant people in their place. I think we all kind of like disorder. Like people look when there's a fight happening, or when cops are rushing some place. It gets us excited and gives us a chance to be active in the world, instead of having everything follow the plan. 

 


 

In short, I feel like it's just really emotionally draining. I don't think there will ever be a true global culture. There are too many differences between people. And we need those differences, because they help us understand ourselves. I would hypothetically feel a lot more empathy for a white, male American being kidnapped than a black, female Nigerian. It's not because I hate them or because I don't feel enough in my heart. It's just that one is more relevant to me than the other. I know we should view humans as humans, and we all have like a baseline on which we can relate. But Nigeria isn't even a real place to me. Maybe that will change for me one day, but at this point, I don't really care what happens there as long as my life is uninterrupted. This is the ugly truth, or the truth that was always real, but is only recently being called "ugly". I think we can all be happier, more sincere, and more logical when we realize at what point we stop caring about other people. That way we don't have to act as if we are representing other people, or act self-righteously on behalf of someone else. We can pretty much cut out lots of stupid idealism and self-righteousness, which are both, you know, directly related to an imperialistic mindset. If someone were to stands up and say, "I don't care about your minority/special interest group", we will all gasp and puppying CRUCIFY that person. But in reality, that person just had the courage to say what many people think, but will never say. Special interest groups use our fear of not making a spectacle of our empathy to manipulate us and achieve their goals. "do you want the terrorists to win?"/"what are you? Racist?"/etc. Guilt tripping, basically.

 

To answer your question about why I feel this way: I feel like I have a level-headed view of this. I feel like I have developed to this point, and I am annoyed that others have not, or that they refuse to see the ugly truth. It's egotistic of me, but maybe I feel like I am burdening myself or being judged by openly admitted that I don't feel empathy for people as much as the media would want me to. And maybe I feel like there are people who will never come to terms with their empathy or lack of it. And I feel like they'll always take the holier-than-thou stance, and I feel like they are cowardly for not getting to know the uglier sides of their own selves.

 

tl;dr: stay true to yourself and your desires, idk lol.

 

 

edit: I feel like I'm gonna come back to this post one day and feel like a psycho. Maybe 

Edited by Iargely Iegendry (see edit history)
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Posted

I don't have enough time currently to properly respond to this, but I will say that empathy for others, even if you don't truly understand what they're going through, is kind of what keeps society running. It's the only reason that justice is dealt. I don't care if Nigeria is so far removed from my life that I have no idea what's going on over there. I don't care if it looks idealistic and naive to worry about them. They are suffering because of an injustice that I believe is so universally grounded, that no matter your stance, it should be abhorrent, repulsive. The kidnappers are the psychopaths here, and those who are angry about it are not lying to themselves. This is something that is worth being angry over, and denial of that anger is what is inhuman.

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Posted (edited)

No, the thing is bad, don't get me wrong. I don't doubt that some people can relate to this situation or have stake in it. I'm not advocating not caring. 

 

I just don't care. It just seems silly to judge or draw lines between people based on hypothetical situations. Because to us, to Americans, the situation might as well be hypothetical. We didn't even know those people existed until this happened. If the media had made the whole thing up, we wouldn't even know.

Edited by Iargely Iegendry (see edit history)
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I only care to the point where I will only feel the need to protect something or be emotionally invested in something when there is something I feel I can do about it. This Nigerian kidnappings doesn't make me angry. I don't have that kind of empathy for other folk. Consciously I care, but on a deeper level I don't. It's not worth my time and energy to care. Nigeria can sort itself out with some help from their friends.

 

It's not that I don't care about the overall problem with the global mistreatment of women, but I'm just more focused on how I can improve womens' standing and treatment by picking apart my own mind and finding where I'm going wrong. I'll try and improve things from where I am, and by trying to influence others. I do care, but deep down I know when to stop caring. I'm not caring to the point of going out and educating people, but I'll share my viewpoint with people when I see the opportunity. I don't like to cause too much upset by causing an argument or forcing a topic.

 

Like, as an example (not a dig at you saha); when Phanta (not a dig at you either) fell out with folk one time I remember, you and him argued, while somehow when I talked to him we had a nice enough chat about it. I'm not sure which was better for actually communicating our point to him, but I did think that maybe I was able to make a less inflamed discussion out of it was because I just didn't get as invested in it as you did. I wanted to tell him where he was wrong, but you wanted to make him know why he was wrong. You forced it a lot than I did, because you were more invested in it.

 

I prefer being casual about most things. I feel like things go better if you're more laid back about it. Like my irl friend who has emotional issues, she'll often just turn things around to be an insult against herself, or she'll scoff at anything nice you try and say. I just laugh it off and try and take her less seriously than she's taking herself, in the hopes that it'll somehow rub off on her. I feel like if I took her seriously about it then the serious atmosphere would just make her more rigid, and trying to reform that structure can just cause it to snap in defense. I'm not sure I have it right, and I'm sure that if I faked sympathy and made some white lies, she'd be happy for it, but then she'd just get attached to someone who isn't real, and that's not fair on her. It's the safest way to deal with her for me, without letting my irritation at her difficult nature be seen. Sometimes when I make light, she talks a little more lightly about it too, and I feel like that's a small confirmation of my technique. The manner in which something is said contributes to an atmosphere, and that atmosphere influences the response of the other person. So it's best to try and maintain a light atmosphere when you're trying not to cause a fuss. Though it's true that tough love is sometimes needed, because not everybody is so simply dealt with. I'm off on a tangent here, but this is just me preaching the virtues of not caring quite so much.


Also relevant:

 

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Posted

I think you and I have really similiar internal monologues and thought processes some times. More so than anyone else that I've met (granted, I don't always get to read their thoughts like I get to read yours). 

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Also, as a side note, I'm not entirely sure that it's that bad a thing to be validated by other people, by talking about your interests and your day in public spaces. I'm not sure how damaging that really is. Being able to express yourself in front of other people is a pretty necessary skill. If I said "We don't need to post about our interests on Facebook!" I'd only be saying that because I'm vaguely self-conscious about sharing my thoughts and feelings with other people. People knowing what I like gives a small feeling of vulnerability which makes me a bit uncomfortable. Me condemning social media would just be me trying to allow myself to become more introverted by sharing less and less. In order to be comfortable around other people you have to be able to share. At least I do.

 

Straining yourself by holding things back, tensing up your brain so that nothing gets out, controlling the border between thought and speech, it bound to be tiring. No wonder introverts can't handle social situations for too long. Like, maybe there are people who like being alone but can also express themselves in a healthy way, I dunno. But sometimes it feels like people who call themselves introverts just have trouble sharing with other people.

 

Like, I don't like to call myself an introvert because it feels like I'm trying to escape from expressing my emotions. I don't like the idea of being quiet and recluse. Sounds miserable. I'm not sure if I dislike that way of life because I have an inherent desire to share myself with others; Or because my dad does lots with the community, my sister is very outgoing, my oldest brother is an ex-activist, and my second-oldest brother is quite outgoing and charismatic. Maybe I just have people who A: make me feel that I should live up to that too, or B: have shown me that way of being, and so I gravitate towards it because the way has been paved.

 

Blogging still. I'm very tired now actually.

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Posted (edited)

unrelated: what's the Limmy video that you posted once? He was like "what if I hate them?" or something after some teenagers walked by. 

 

Edit: nevermind, I found it.

 

 

 

I think I was afraid to express myself in the past, but I've grown up with that mindset. I don't think it's terrible to express yourself, but my learned tendency makes me have to actively think about it when I'm doing it. I don't like not knowing if I am doing something for me or for me to get something from someone (which is why I think people talk about themselves openly). So I often just don't do it. I feel like that thought process makes me look at what others share with more scrutiny. For some reason lately, the concept of expressing yourself is really, really funny. It's probably being around so many hip people and going to this art school. 

 

I just think "what are you supposed to be?" I just feel like it's futile to express yourself. They are putting energy into trying to be different, yet they aren't really different at all. I think they should do it completely or not at all. That's my first thought. My second thought it that it's kind of small for a person to think of themselves as unique or special. Maybe they are keeping their goals small, too, and maybe trying to be relatively unique in their own circle, or in their school, or in their town. After the Internet became a popular thing, I just feel like people are trying harder than ever to be unique because there's more "competition". The world is smaller, and the fact that they aren't so special after all makes them want to take their self-expression up a notch.

 

edit:

This is lit'rally the most punk rock post I've ever written holy puppy. I'm laughing re-reading it. But I mean all of it.

Edited by Iargely Iegendry (see edit history)
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