#that's not an indictment of anyone's character but it is an invitation to greater self-examination and empathy

[chamerionwrites]

I basically agree with this. But also, as an American, talking to my fellow US-Americans? Can we all be real with each other here?

How often do people actually suggest that we ought to know “everything that’s happening everywhere else always”? How often do people literally claim that you, as an individual, are responsible for knowing about every ill in the world or else you’re a bad person who doesn’t care?

It may feel that way to you, when you come across a post expressing frustration (and maybe expressing it without a whole lot of nuance; one of the tough things about social media is that venting and discourse, which are two separate kinds of communication, often get tangled up and confused) over the lack of attention paid to a particular news story. And that’s okay; it’s not your job to control every thought and feeling that crosses your neurons, and it’s unhealthy - and usually actively unhelpful - to try. But it is your job as a reasonable and responsible adult to control how you react to your feelings. It is your job, as a person who wants to learn and grow as a compassionate human being, to figure out how to deal gracefully with criticism.

You know that thing? The thing where brown folks vent about white people as a group, and a million white folks take massive personal offense and show up furiously missing the point and protesting how dare you say such a thing, how dare you generalize us like this, you don’t know me as an individual, #notallwhitepeople? The white fragility thing?

This is exactly what first-worlders - imo Americans in particular - do to third-worlders (and to a lesser degree non-Americans in general) regularly and relentlessly, every single time this particular criticism comes up. 

You know that other thing? The thing where someone gets called to the carpet for doing something not-so-great, and then compounds the problem a hundredfold by lying or making really half-assed excuses or, in the worst cases, running around hiding evidence and hurting people to make sure the truth doesn’t come out? The thing for which the phrase “the cover-up is worse than the crime” was invented?

Be really, really honest with yourselves for a moment, and ask whether this critique is usually centered on Americans being uninformed about every little thing that happens everywhere, or centered on Americans being uninformed about big, breaking news stories (fires in Greece, bombings in Yemen, protests in Nicaragua, etc). And then consider that if you respond to that critique by complaining that people expect you to know Everything Happening In the World All the Time - when in reality they just think that Americans as a group should be better-informed about major international news - you are at best making a straw man argument, and at worst proving the accusations of self-centered arrogance absolutely justified by implying that serious international issues, often involving the deaths of a lot of human beings, are little things that no reasonable person would expect you to know about. And that’s...honestly a whole lot more offensive than a simple failure to be informed in the first place, whether that’s the way you intended it or not.

You’re not a bad person because you can’t keep up with all the news all the time (that’s physically impossible). You’re not a bad person if you have to disengage sometimes (there’s a difference between burying one’s head in the sand, and striking a balance between responsible citizenship and your emotional health). But the question of whether you’re a bad person is honestly beside the point, and it is, again, kinda self-centered to make it the point. The point is to draw attention to a particular pattern in the way people engage with the news, illustrating a particular systemic problem and imbalance of power between the U.S. and the rest of the world. (And does anyone honestly...not see that the United States wields an outsize amount of power on the world stage? Does anyone honestly not see that Americans as a collective tend to be less informed about the rest of the world than the rest of the world is about us? Is this controversial somehow?) If the accusation of apathy doesn’t apply to you, there’s no need to be offended. And if it does apply to you, don’t double down and add insult to injury because you feel defensive. Don’t make your guilty feelings everyone else’s problem, especially not when it draws attention away from the real issues they’re trying to discuss. Sit with your discomfort for a minute, learn something, and move on. 

Easier said than done, yes! Dealing gracefully with criticism is hard. Learning to sit with discomfort is hard. I’m not for a second claiming that it isn’t. I’m not for a second claiming I’ve got it all figured out; anything remotely valuable that I have to say here is because sensitivity to criticism and an overactive tendency to internalize guilt are two of my own major personal flaws, and I’ve spent 28 years living with them and learning (in fits and starts) how to manage them. And please note that I didn’t say accept any and all criticism blindly; I said learn to deal with criticism gracefully. On occasion criticism is overblown. On occasion it’s expressed poorly. It’s still a really valuable life skill, and a sign of a stand-up human being, to learn to listen to it with an open mind - especially when it comes from people over whom you have power. Take a breath and recognize that people’s frustration stems from not having the option to ignore U.S. news, because if the United States throws a political shit fit it could very well ruin their lives. Take a breath and think about what a privilege it is to be uninformed. 

It’s not your sole personal responsibility to solve that problem, but it is your responsibility to try not to perpetuate it. 

americans, months ago: hey we just discovered that local news stations are actually being turned into state sponsored propaganda tools with terrorist alert desks and biased information about the fascist president which would influence public perception of him for those who trust their local stations. and we’d love to see more international news but apparently we’re not even getting accurate reports from our own backyards so for a lot of us common everyday folk we have to go out of our way to get news that’s not us-centric AND accurate

y'all, for some inexplicable reason: why don’t y'all know everything that’s happening everywhere else always? you must not care, that’s the only reason