Social media can serve as a tool that can unite or divide,
especially when it comes to issues that are politically or socially motivated.
In the aftermath of the wave of terror that rocked Paris, Facebook offered the
option of turning people’s display pictures into a modified version with the
filter of the French national flag in the background. However, as the days
passed and people began changing their pictures to ones which endorsed this
attempt at solidarity, many people began to ride a wave of animosity towards
those who have showed their support for Paris, stating that there are many
other such atrocities which are current and burning issues across the world,
which are never aligned with by many on online platforms.
“What happened in Paris was horrible, but so is what has
taken place in Beirut, Syria, Israel, Palestine and so many other countries.
These countries face such distress on a much more regular basis, yet you don’t
see us up in arms, on social media of course, in solidarity with the cause,”
opines media based professional Desiree Alemao.
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Anisha Sawant from Mapusa sums up the explanation to the
situation that many people subscribe to, through her Facebook post which says,
“I think it’s mostly because there has been almost zero media coverage on the
attacks in Beirut and Baghdad. People cannot be expected to show outrage or
support for something they didn’t know has happened. There is also a lot of
ignorance; a lot of people think these places are in the warzone and so this is
to be expected. They’re wrong, of course. Also, Paris feels more personal
because we have known the place all our lives, we’ve read about it and seen
pictures. A lot of us have walked down those streets and into cafés just like
the ones that were attacked. You can’t help but think that that could have been
you on any given Friday night. And last, but surely not the least, the world is
racist and flawed. But you have to understand that naivety and discrimination
are not the same thing; one sometimes leads to the other, but they are not the
same.”
The point trying to be made by many across a series of such
mediums is that there are issues ranging from bombings in Iraq, to terrorism in
Paris, to things as close to home like more than 71 people currently being
victims in Tamil Nadu, due to a flood crisis that the government is clearly
unable to handle. In any of these cases, it is a matter of support for those in
need rather than the questioning of support for one place over the other that
each individual should strive for, or the purpose of these initiatives is
altogether lost.
