After last year’s horrors, I was counting on the silly season being exactly that: the lazy, hazy days of summer, when the living is easy and the news is frivolous, with maybe a 'crime passionnel’ amongst the more hot-blooded classes to exercise the mind.
Instead we have more of the same, possibly even worse. Dear World, why are you turning at an ever faster pace, the news being outdated even before it’s been digested and events overtaking each other at breakneck speed? How did we allow this to happen? Sitting, as I do, in front of screens and pouring over newspapers doesn’t help. Neither does it help to mouth pious speeches: “Our thoughts and prayers are with you” being one of them, favoured by politicians and the general run of commentators at the scene and in memorial gatherings alike.
Battles in Syria, Iraq, the Ukraine, the refugee crisis, Islamist terror in France, The ascension of populist right wingers everywhere, with Donald Trump the most visible, Brexit in the UK, which one commentator explained as a “howl of outrage" by those left behind in the global scramble for a place in the sun, whose votes were tricked out of them by shameless lies and, most recently, the attempted military coup in Turkey with far from transparent origins. We hear of endless shootings in the US, which we hardly recoil from any longer, telling ourselves that an obsession with readily available weapons will logically have only one outcome.
So much is happening, Dear World, how can we stop the carnage?
It may sound macabre, but we are so swamped with daily dollops of unbearably horrendous information that we are in danger of forgetting that 1000s have drowned in the Mediterranean on their way to a “better life"and that the Italian coastguard has recently found a boat on the bottom of the Med with 675 corpses.They’re just the ones which have been discovered. How many more are there? How many more atrocities can France bear?
How many more men, women and children will have to leave everything they hold dear behind and run for their lives? Nearer home, what will Brexit mean for the poor in our own society?
hashtag “jesuissickofthishit"
Dear World, could we please stop now and start again?
Hi Friko - couldn't agree more ... the world is turning at such a pace and not giving us time to think or digest the happenings - and they are real as you mention ... while those not found - how desperate ...
ReplyDeleteI am just grateful I am who I am ... but we need to help others in whatever way we can ... to inspire them to help other peoples and let the world spread its butterfly wings and thus peace - I sincerely hope life will get easier for many - so they can have a life ... Hilary
Remember "centrifugal" (physics lesson)?
ReplyDeleteThere is no "stop now and start again". That was when we were little, and in early September each year, our notebooks were unblemished. Come Easter and you wished ink had never been invented.
I believe in damage limitation. And that is what we need to do. Contain the fallout. Mind you, there are only so many fires you can fight at the same time.
U
Nodding in agreement. It's overwhelming. I turn off the news and cocoon in my own little world, which solves nothing. But I am unable to think of anything useful I can do except focus on helping the one refugee family our church brought to Canada. Even there others are more able to help. What a broken world.
ReplyDeleteAs a genealogist I wonder if the world is crazier now, or if we have just become better at communicating it. Still, this past year has been an incredible carnage.
ReplyDeleteOne wonders what news will greet us each day, what new atrocities, how many more deaths and maimings Turkey is a mess and it will get worse - Ataturk must be spinning in his grave.
ReplyDeleteIt won't stop of its own volition. We have to poke a stick in its wheels by getting together, by trying to trust each other and breaking free of the idea that we can only vote for political parties. We need a body of independents on councils, in Parliament, to stop our current masters running our world into the ground.
ReplyDeleteAmen Dear. Am working every positive bit of my coping mechanisms. It is really about the ones coming up. All we can do is advise and participate by voting wisely. We must savor the Summer as we can - and DESERVE to! All the best to you
ReplyDeleteThere are, amidst all this horror, signs of hope, and my hope is that, at least here in the US, while we're certainly at a tipping point, there's hope that we'll come together (though there are far from any guarantees on that, of course). One lovely, and I think quite meaningful, sign of hope is here. I can't find a way to send on the video someone took of everyone dancing together at the event, but here is a participant's report, which has been widely shared: "Tonight the #blacklivesmatter movement planned on having another protest, but instead agreed to cohost a "first steps" BBQ with the Wichita Police Department. The community got together and had open/honest discussion between it's citizens and law enforcement. Hard questions were asked and Chief Ramsay did an exceptional job of being vulnerable and willing to listen with an open heart and mind. We are on the road to real, life giving solutions. We are breaking down barriers. We downed over 2,000 hamburgers and hot dogs, built relationships, laughed, cried, and danced. This is what humanity was designed to do. Work together, love each other and live in COMMUNITY. Could you imagine the history that would be made if the rest of our nation followed this example??"
ReplyDeleteThank you. I needed to read this. I really, really needed to read it.
DeleteCorporate overlords make heaps of $€£¥₩ on the mayhem. And we are in a world of unicorns & rainbows if we believe otherwise. Mayhem lines the coffers of the NRA.
ReplyDeleteSorry this kind of cynicism may be unpleasant. But so are thoughts and prayers.
XO
WWW
Following closely 'bout Brexit and things ... our flag is half mast almost every day now ... losing treck of what fore this time ... anyway ... found this muppet song online the other day ... so the show will go on ... Love, cat. https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ytei6bu7kQ?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0
ReplyDeleteI can't answer for the world but only repeat something I said to a sad friend whose fiance was facing conscription or prison 48 years ago. "All we can do is love, as much, as intensely, as many beautiful things as we can."
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteThat is as good an explanation for the Brexit vote result as I have heard.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan, for that uplifting ray of sunshine and hope. I am reeling every day from the latest horror and cannot take any more. I feel just like Friko: what is happening to our world?
ReplyDeleteYou ask some very important questions.I'm very cynical about the "thoughts and prayers "thing.I don't think these guys would know prayer if it hit them in the face.
ReplyDeleteYes the world has gone barking mad. We were born into a world of people and it has become a kennel of mad dogs.
ReplyDeleteI have no answer (not that you expected one) and my instinctive reaction is escapism in the small happy bubble that is my daily life.
ReplyDeleteMy relatives in Nice (cousin with husband and 3 sons) are safe; she watched the fireworks from the Promenade d'Anglais with her friend but decided to have ice cream 10 minutes before the attack.
In your list of horrors, a lot of what is happening in Africa does not even appear anymore; Sudan, Boko Haram and other atrocities are hardly even mentioned anymore in our news these days. The 15 minutes of Tagesschau I watch every night are nowhere near enough anymore, and yet they still use part of it for sports and weather...
We've all got handy little apparatuses , these days , that we can pull out of our pockets which show us what's happening right this minute , anywhere in the world .
ReplyDeleteSadly , it's just leading to panic , rancour and the urge to hit out at people .
I have cut off the news which doesn't make it go away, but helps me cope a little better. Is the world worse now than it ever was or is it the the 24 hour news cycle with constant "breaking news" telling us every horror that is happening.
ReplyDeleteI have not watched TV for a few years now ... no news, no movies, nothing ... and dat sits just fine with me ... smiles ... Love, cat.
DeleteI don't watch TV, well, one or two shows but no news. I limit my news to an hour or two in the morning on line. After that I've had all the man's inhumanity to man that I can take. I don't know if the world is worse than it's ever been or if we just hear about every horrible thing that happens.
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteDear Friko, during many recent days and nights I've also wished for a fresh start for the world. Ah, but it just keeps on spinning.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit of a news junkie, yet am often astonished by what the media does choose to show us, and what sorts of stories rarely appear. Scientific discoveries might get reported when there is some sort of monetary reward involved. Educational programs don't get much play. Mass media is well named.
One of the reasons I continue to participate in the blogging world is to be able to connect with folks from other parts of the physical world, and to learn from those connections.
Yesterday, I sought respite from the mass media and the current heat and humidity, and met a friend at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We spend a few hours slowly looking at a marvelous exhibit of Indian miniature opaque watercolor paintings, most of which were from the 1600s and 1700s. It was a glimpse into a faraway time and place, filled with multiple gods and story lines. And yet, we could recognize amongst the gardens, and bedrooms and war scenes much that we would recognize. I plan to return to the show and to make use of the available magnifying glasses to have an even closer look. War and peace. Love and anger, conflict and resolution. Many of the paintings also contained exquisitely rendered tiny deer, and dogs, and birds. Lots of birds.
I will be getting out my watercolors and sketchbook this afternoon. I have finished my laundry. Salads are cooling meals for the current heat. I am trying to be kind to everyone that I encounter, and to listen to what they may wish to say to me. Perhaps these are little gestures.
xo
We keep getting more and more horrified at the events of the world. here in the USA it is more noticeable in some ways as we have it so good. The poorest Americans have it better that some of the rich in the third world and yet the unrest is here, dissatisfied youth wanting everything and expecting it now, people who are unhappy with police control but want the state to straighten things out. It is unnerving, people who have it all are unhappy and people who are dying to get to a better place die or don't find the dreams they had hoped for. Ralph and I are so blessed here and we hope things get better... Do take care and God Bless!
ReplyDeleteWe know about everything faster so it makes it all closer. The horrors have always been there. We just didn't hear about them right away or have pictures and videos of them. Making the world smaller will hopefully shock us into being better humans. That is my hope. That humanity will say--that's enough!! *hugs*
ReplyDeleteIt is not immoral, unethical, or uncaring to turn it all off from time to time. Just because the mainstream media insists on forcefeeding us the worst of it for ratings, and just because social media seems intent on developing into a sewer, we don't have to participate.
ReplyDeleteYugoslavia? I found one well-informed live blog to follow, and emailed back and forth with a friend in Istanbul. The police shootings in Dallas? I made a batch of my best muffins, and took them to our local station. The pure thuggery of certain groups in this country? I've been making it a point to allow people to merge into traffic ahead of me -- and smiling and waving as I do.
None of us can solve the big problems, but we can live in dignity and with civility in our own, smaller worlds -- and enjoy the blessings we have.
It is hard not to despair. I do seek out signs of hope and progress, like the one Susan talked of in her comment.
ReplyDeleteI share your thoughts and feelings. The thing that gives me some small comfort is that times have been bad before, yet somehow our ancestors survived. Modern media makes everything look much worse. Although it was overlooked the leadership of Black Lives Matter and the police union met for a pic is and no one died. Unfortunately, the political news....Melania's dress and speech...made most of the news. The Media has much to answer for.
ReplyDeleteIt's a challenge to maintain balance. I don't think the world has changed, it's just that we get to hear about everything, & it can get overwhelming. I take care to screen out too much news and to bring in goodness as an antidote whenever I can.
ReplyDeleteWe get bombarded with every little negative detail piled onto the bigger worries and it can't do anything but eat away at us. There are things we can hope to change by voting.. by demanding better. And some we'll never change. Our best hope is to find a calm balance between important fight and acceptable resignation.
ReplyDeleteI can't hear "thoughts and prayers" anymore. Such an empty phrase.
ReplyDeleteTV news in the US are unbearable. I'm not watching them. Reading the newspaper - which I still do - makes me sick, so does listening to NPR (which I also still do). There is nothing that is even slightly uplifting.
Then there is what Susan said, and that gives me hope. Kindness among people. A smile between strangers. People who still fight for others. People who stand up for what is right.
I don't really know what to say to be honest.
Even with all that humans have achieved, there are still enough exceptions to make us look like fools. "Thoughts and prayers" has become meaningless, but I believe that most people really do care. The percentage of those who are hateful and sociopathic have made a lot of noise, but heir numbers are not that great. There are many fighting back with love and understanding as Susan S. mentioned. We can win this. We must.
ReplyDeleteIt just sickens me. The hatred and the willingness to act on it - the way so many in the 'first world' have become numb to the horror in the 'third'. NO, we haven't learned a thing.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. Everything is spinning far too fast for me. And it's all way too tragic. I go hide in my idyllic little up-north world and it seems like all is well because I have such limited internet and news there. You come back and want to go back under the rock.
ReplyDelete