The title of this blog post is deliberately leaving out the names of the countries that we have been told are at war right now.
‘We have been told?’ – You may ask?
The nature of big conflicts like this one is complex, and I will not pretend to know much about politics.
However, to anticipate this war to be over soon, or that it is only a conflict between the 2 countries currently portrayed to be fighting, is naïve.
I have uninstalled social media from my phone in February this year.
It upset me to see how all the propaganda regarding this atrocious conflict is polarizing ‘us’ against 'them’.
The ‘good guy’ against ‘the bad guy’.
I think we can be certain that incomprehensible loses are happening in both Ukraine and Russia.
The soldiers that are wounded or killed, the industry that stops receiving government support when this happens, the medical supplies missing from hospitals that care for the general public, the school, socialisation and meals the children are missing out on, the tax payer who is now unwillingly financially supporting human tragedy…and more, on both sides.
This conflict is larger than the 2 countries we see fighting, and supplies and humanitarian efforts MUST be provided to both sides.
Not just 1.
Not just ‘the good guy’, the ‘David against Goliath’, the ‘underdog’.
Conflict like this will have major financial impact in both countries, and likely slow down progress of the countries around them. Moldova and Poland for example, who are trying to accommodate the
fleeing civilians and provide a supply chain for those who do not have anywhere to go to.
So if you are asking me what this has to do with me going off social media- it is because I am fed up with seeing that the general public consumes this polarisation and fuels the conflict by ‘standing up
for the good guy, the David, the underdog’.
The motives for humanitarianism should not be further fuelling the conflict, by turning the general public’s awareness ‘against’ the ‘enemy’.
All civilians, in Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Poland and beyond, are victims of this conflict.
And they all need our help.
So, until I see refugee camps and humanitarian support being provided equally, without propaganda
or explanation of ‘who to give to because they are good and the other is bad’, I will stay away from it.
I have assigned myself to provide veterinarian support to animals that are in the UK with their refugee families.
That is my contribution.
And I wouldn't dream of refusing to provide the same to any other family of refugees, just because they are portrayed as 'the bad'.
Were you wawing a flag of Afganistan this time last year? And why not?
Social media acts as an invitation into our psyche. And our shared data helps *them write the screenplay toward the story *they want you to see.
*them, they here is not aimed toward any particular group of people. Any organisation with enough resources can be the 'they'.