bengalaas a réagi à votre billet “US-Pivilegien sind, dass die gaze Welt gegen die Polizeigewalt eines...”
Yeah, I'm also not enjoying tumblr lately. Like, I can't really object to people organizing, posting, reblogging things that are important and that matter to them, but... it's so increasingly US-centric right now that I just don't feel welcome or relevant :/
at the moment there's so much to unpack: Beginning with the assumption that social media is directly a real life platform instead of a leisure time one, then that Bush-y attitude of "if you're not with us you're against us", and in the end only caring about the US events, demanding authentic action but this “authentic action” should be expressed by blogging? The problem with this is that the question is where genuine concern ends and peer pressure begins. Perhaps this is just a biased view of mine but I tend to be sceptic when statements flare up on the internet of it possibly being virtue signaling - We, including me, should be careful to take internet posts at face value. I don’t mean it in a manner that would easily brush off responsibility from educating oneself but we circle back to the question how we handle social media personally. Is at a politically active platform, or a leisure time escape where we can curate and limit our willingness to engage in conflict? Further, is there such a need to constantly post about the same topic over and over again to signal consideration online - online image and what we do in the material world is not equivalent.
And also not everyone is from the damn US so non-US citizens can also care about the US for five seconds.
And consider that with the fact that there’s still a global pandemic going on still impacting many people gravely! Man people are still struggling with Corona regulations, it’’s consequences and aftermath. (Lately talked to m family in Venezuela and they pray to not fall gravely ill any time soon because going into the hospital atm was already a high risk before Corona but no any scrape of functionality in an already beaten down health care system is exhausted...). The US is in a heated state, yet the rest of the world grabbles with another pressing issue, also wearing us out.
I wrote this post after I heard how in my study town people organized a BLM protest. Against police brutality in the US. Okay, solidarity can boost moral. But I really, really got pissed off that people, despite Corona, mobilized for a country’s issue which we have here as well. In the recent years, and passed over the run of two decades neo-facist groups in Germany mobilized, the AfD-representatives came out openly facist, xenophobic, a high number of rightwing terrorism acts were badly investigated or prevented. Only after the horrific terror act in Hanau the German government suddenly became aware of an increasing threat from right wing groups, suddenly realizing that the police is barely equipped to investigate and prevent criminal acts effectively. That’s not to leave out how elements in the police force and military are racist, and act according to it.
Except for a few newspapers keeping the topic of racism and the blind eye of the German population about that topic alive but suddenly after George Flyod’s death, the majority becomes aware that racism is suddenly a global problem. Oh news.
What really, really, really rubbed me hard the wrong way it takes the US for people to mobilize against a flawed, discriminatory governmental structure. And still people internationally mostly care about what happens in the US first, no matter what horrific proofs of to similar flaws are demonstrated in the same country.
Even in times of dire crisis the US has a privilege of international attention attention about which they take for granted. I’m just tired that rampant antisemitism and xenophobia here makes my aunt, my uncle, and grandmother be too aware that they look Latin-American (TM) but that only brings up a public shocked gasp but these people will go out, during a pandemic, to protest for events in the US.
