Social media, as much as traditional media, tells us when it is acceptable to grieve, and which victims are worthy of our sympathies, and which are not.
There will be a profile overlay for victims of some atrocities, but not others. Certainly, there will be no way to stand in solidarity with the victims of white supremacist killing sprees, no matter how much the death toll rises.
Social media reinforces pervasive prejudices daily, but somehow it just washes over us. We don’t even notice anymore how we are coopted by mendacious politics.
We just play along, desperate not to be associated with the latest heinous crime. Never do we notice that only some are asked to play this game of dissociation. Is society at large asked to disassociate itself from the murderous rampages of nationalist extremists? Never!
Instead, we have fully imbibed the hierarchy of human worth, defining some victims more worthy than others. We can’t even see the millions dead elsewhere, their lives cut short by our own nations’ misadventures. We have thoughly been propagandised, through and through.
Last modified: 29 November 2022
