On Saturday the main disaster for me was the loss of a sporting fixture that I was heavily invested in. I was devastated by the result and my friends were quick to comfort me. However, at the close of the match the international news came on the television. Poignantly, the ridiculous importance that I put on sport was driven home. The fact that I was even alive was a victory.
I have seen many people commenting on this disaster in blogs and social networking sites and I cannot view these entries without a grimace. To be clear, I am all for the expression of solidarity, sympathy and empathy towards those affected by the tragedy. I do not, however, believe that these mediums are appropriate. There is something horribly frivolous about commenting on a massive disaster on something as instantaneous as Facebook. The thought is an admirable one by the poster, yet the post undermines the fact that these disasters should not be dealt with so quickly or shallowly.
I realise that my posting about this situation is somewhat hypocritical. However, I am making a conscious effort not to name the disaster in question. This is not due to some callous method of appropriating the disaster or an effort to generically talk about tragedies with one brush stroke. I am attempting to make an observation of these trends without diminishing the harrowing events that sparked them.
We should be very careful of how we express our empathy, lest we undermine it through the medium.
-The English Student
No comments:
Post a Comment