It's hard to know what to say sometimes.
A week ago, the world played witness to a terrible tragedy as ISIS carried out a coordinated terrorist attack in several locations in Paris- a soccer game, cafés, a concert. No need to summarize, everyone knows what happened.
I was at my aunt and uncles after a long week at work, and took a nap. I woke up, opened twitter on my phone, and saw all kinds of news stations posting about a terror attack in Paris. It was oddly reminiscent of this past January, when I was in Guatemala with my dad, and we got to the hotel after a long day only to learn about the Charlie Hebdo attack. I scrolled down through my twitter feed, moving back in time, essentially recounting what was happening in a backwards fashion. Within an hour, my Facebook feed was full of posts, hashtags, and profile pictures overlaid with the French flag. It was a larger show of sympathy on Facebook than for any event I've experienced.
The next few days I checked in on the events frequently. It brought me back to the Boston Marathon bombing- the chaos in the beginning, then the realization of what had happened, and the "retaliation." It did seem from pretty early on that it had been the doing of ISIS, and already, the #1 mastermind behind the attack has been compromised. I'm sure for a lot of people, the attacks are now filed away in "past happenings". But even though it's been a week now, the acts of terror are still present on my mind. Cedric, a close friend I met in Nepal, lives in Paris and I wrote to him yesterday, He said every day he has to walk by one of the attacked cafés. I can't even imagine how that must feel.
I'm not here to write out against ISIS. When they were teeny tiny, I had an idea that we should give them the benefit of the doubt- maybe they would lead to positive change in the turbulent middle east. However, that inking of an idea left me long ago as I read about their transgressions- destroying historical sites, massacring people... so many bad things. Anybody who is on a different page than me, who thinks that ISIS has good intentions in mind, please tell me why. I can't understand how their support grows. Thankfully, I think most people feel like I do. I'm also not going to write that the US needs to send troops into Syria. I don't know what's going on there, and I don't claim to be a IR mastermind. I don't know how to proceed, so I won't pretend I do.
What I do want to reflect on is the social media reaction that occurred in the past week, following the initial sympathy.
For some reason, within a few days of the attack, people were complaining about how people reacted on social media. They said our attention was improperly aimed. They talked about a bombing in Beirut a day before that got no attention. They complained that people only thought about others living in high-income countries instead of those living in desolation- those who we need to worry about. To them, I say "shut up, stop complaining." Yes, the people of Lebanon undoubtedly suffer far more than citizens of Paris. They endure far more; it's a different order of magnitude. But that all being said, I do believe that people should a) not tell people what to post on Facebook and b) Be respectful of all of the suffering of people affected by the tragedy.
I'm not saying we should only focus on tragedies in high-income countries. I'm also not saying we should never post about any tragedies, or post about all tragedies. Honestly, posting things on Facebook have such minimal influence on anything, that I kind of feel foolish writing this post. But it makes me sad that people are attacking posts which show unification and sympathy to those affected. Our posts weren't discounting the tragedy of Beirut, but could you imagine what the FB feed would look like if every time anything bad happened people posted? Our news feeds would be saturated with depressing news. And we have normal news stations that.
More than anything else, our reaction was a showing of solidarity, of unity, of humanity. Why take that away from us? The terror attacks shocked us, showing us that even when we think we're safe, doing fun things, there can always be surprises. To me, the outpouring of sympathy was incredible, and showed everyone that we are strong together.
I just wanted to finish with a few links to some powerful things I've read. Change may not happen from us sitting on our computers, reading, but it can change how we think, and that can lead to tangible impact down the road.
From Molly, a friend, a great piece she wrote on her blog:
https://mollyrothschild.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/frustration/
From the Dalai Lama- though I agree that prayers won't lead to tangible change and humans need to act, I do see the symbolism of prayer and think it's important in bringing people together:
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/dalai-lama-stop-praying-for-paris-humans-created-this-problem-and-humans-must-solve-it/#.VkulY6jtRgY.facebook
And some information on ISIS, for those who don't know a lot about it:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/isis-wants-us-to-invade-7-facts-revealed-by-their-magazine/
#PrayforParis
#PrayforBeirut
#PrayforMali
#PrayforHumanity
#PrayforPlanetEarth
