Absolutely get where you are coming from! Add to that, as an environmental professional I deal daily with our rush to make humans extinct. Never has my mantra been more appropriate 'it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness'. But these days I'm struggling to find the matches . . . 😢
It's beyond obvious that the planet cannot continue sustaining what we're doing to it.
Yet Facebook keeps trying to feed me climate change denial conspiracies from pages I don't follow, and never expressed any interest in (while suppressing content from the left-wing socially-liberal pages that I actually follow).
I am 72 and I have a lot of acquaintance s(I used to think of as friends) who imagine themselves as being very alternative and non mainstream non consumers ..buy they have completely consumed the mainstream silence and or minimisation and or outright lies about both climate change and Gaza.. their ignorance about the climate I could just about tolerate and do my best to educate and mitigate...but on Gaza I cannot empathise with them in any way..
I feel myself getting more and more isolated but I will not give my energy to people who dismiss as "complicated "or "political " the cruel beyond belief actions of Israeli government forces on Gaza
Decent people with integrity can be found, but not easily. And I can't cope with people who don't see what savages the Israelis are becoming. I am quite ashamed of my Jewish antecedents and also of some satisfaction at recent photos of Tel Aviv. It isn't just Gaza btw. They have never stopped west Bank raids.
100% matey. I've never felt more gloomy about the state of the world. It's felt like a doom spiral for a while, but my god, the past couple of years have been a dystopian nose dive. I never thought I'd be affected by the news and current affairs so much, but a live-streamed genocide and the subsequent gaslighting are driving me mad. I really appreciate your (angry) voice. Makes me feel a little less crazy in these crazy times.
I went to the GP last Tuesday. He's referred me for counselling via local services as the NHS list is pretty unimaginable. I told him I knew this before I got the appointment, he knows my past history (from age 19-77, spasmodic and erratic depression/stress), and he does his best - he accepted my dismissal of cbt quite calmly, as I'd tried it twice. Current meds on max as good as any others at a guess, and he and I agree over that. So I reckon someone outside friends/family is the best offer I will get, and feel quite relieved. My daughter and I are getting irritable with each other. We live together, she's single, I'm divorced, neither of us looking for an alternative, so we both realised that I should "do something".
I don't want to pretend to be any kind of mental health expert but I always find that the things that give me a lift when I'm down are exercise, social life, good food, and creative activities/hobbies.
They're not solutions on their own, but they help to alleviate my depressive episodes.
I understand entirely. I teach Politics, which means I have to engage with the news constantly and it definitely wrecks my mental health. Not just the horrors of what's happening, but being perpetually gaslit and lied to. As such, I've tuned out of the latest round of atrocities in Gaza for self-preservation, and I think it's helped my mental wellbeing. As self-help guru Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." Modern politics is designed to break people who care, It's OK to step back once in a while.
I completely get where you’re coming from, but I feel like we owe it to the people of Gaza not to look away. I don’t judge anyone who feels like they have to, but I just can’t. But fucking hell, you’re not wrong about the gaslighting.
I’ve stopped looking too, though I confess I’m kind of addicted to following the latest Trump shenanigans on alternative media.
I catch headlines from the likes of Owen Jones, but for now read no further. My mental health is bad enough as it is. I still go on as many of the weekly Palestine marches in Leeds and I wear a prominent “stop arming Israel” badge wherever I go. It’s not much, but I tell myself it’s better than being completely silent.
You have said it for me. And not just Gaza. I've noticed how on YouTube most of the reports on yhr latest unprovoked attack on Iran is reported in such a way you would think Iran is the aggressor.
Israel is the victim all the time and MSM is still supporting them.
As a friend said to me how can you be told that you have mental health problems. Surely you would have problems if the situation didn't depress you.
I have to say I feel increasingly angry and negative, but then again I've felt that off and on ever since Thatcher was elected! It's been a downward trajectory, and I do feel that there is not much hope for humanity. Nevertheless, I don't want to die cheering for the wrong side, so I keep arguing and disagreeing online. It's made finding a job difficult but I no longer care - I'm in my sixties now, anyway. I distract myself with Chinese historical dramas and detective story audiobooks, language studies and so on.
Thanks for your words of reason that drop into my inbox regularly, which make me feel a little better knowing I'm not the only one who feels helpless. I'm having some mental health problems at the moment so I actively avoid MSN but the relentless bad news isn't totally avoidable. I've just become a grandmother and for the first time in my life I'm genuinely worried about what kind of world my granddaughter will be living in when she reaches my age. Look after yourself in these difficult times, you are important and special.
Those intentionally complicit in this genocide barely pass for humans in the original sense of the word. I have almost given up hope on them.
Those who remain silent are usually the same ones who walk past homeless people and refuse to make eye contact, whose indulgence in physical looks only attract like minded people and who are quick to tear someone down. Another group to whom I’ve almost given up hope.
I kind of understand the desire to look away and concentrate on the things you can actually fix in your own life. Sometimes I have to take breaks from writing about the shit state of politics and the world for the sake of my mental health.
But it's also important to remember that all it takes for evil to succeed if for good people to do nothing, right?
Agree wholeheartedly. The burden of this is immense and that's just for those of us with a conscience who are de facto impotent to do anything, but who have not turned their backs on the prolonged suffering and likely extermination of a significant proportion of the Gaza Palestinian population. And when you imagine it can get no worse, it does.
As a trans woman, when the Supreme Court handed down its abhorrent and ill-conceived judgment in April, for weeks following it seemed as though life was becoming a series of battles to be fought and protests to attend.
For a natural optimist that's a seriously unhealthy set of circumstances to be coping with concurrently. And yet I am not alone; you are not alone; WE are not alone ... as your post eloquently recognises. I attended a trans rights rally in Liverpool (before a march for Palestine) at which someone expressed this perfectly.
To everyone who is campaigning about one or more of the plethora of injustices which are currently being perpetrated against minorities across the UK ... across the world, mass activism is when activism is most effective ... it's when all the campaigners and campaigns unite to challenge the common foe, the oppressors we share. We must support each other, if we can, support each others causes and ... if you see a comrade, a brother or sister in distress caused by their own circumstances, shared or personal then reach out a hand and express your love with generosity; don't leave them to founder on an island of loneliness.
Sorry mate, but much as I find the events in Gaza very challenging to watch, I don’t think it constitutes genocide. Its a great word to use if you want likes and affirmations, but in truth you can’t easily prove intent
By the measure being used by peeps on the left, then Russia is also undertaking a genocide in Ukraine. Agree?
‘acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group’
Even satanyahu has made clear many times his intent is the complete eradication of the Palestinians. Ffs your gaslight post on this thread is sickening.
I think that you will find that many human rights groups are calling it genocide. And numerous governments around the world. You think you're a grown up but you sound like a petulant child.
Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, Smotrich, former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also springs to mind, and that's just off the top of my head. Oh and the ICC ARE investigating genocide, so stop telling lies.
Sorry Maureen, can you point to where they have said that they intend to eradicate the Palestinians please? And also where the ICC has said it is investigating genocide please?
The truth is that you can’t provide the evidence to support your claims as you’re just repeating a phrase others have used, who in turn are repeating what others have said.
And of course there is a reason for accusing Israel of genocide - it’s an attempt to attach some sort of equivalence between what’s happening in Gaza and what happened under Nazi’s, a familiar anti-semitic trope
It’s quite insidious really
None of what I’ve said above in anyway excuses the war crimes that have been committed on both sides of course
I mentor young writers in Gaza for https://wearenotnumbers.org/ and I could have written this piece myself. One of my young mentees told me a couple of days ago that she had to have surgery for a broken nose and during the operation her heart stopped because she was weak from starvation. Others are going hungry so their younger brothers and sisters can eat. I also am caught between disbelief, outrage and fury. When I think how we used to talk about Germans and how they must have known what was going on and did nothing, now no one can pretend they didn't know, and yet the shameless denial and doubling down, and worse, the hypocrisy of Starmer and Lammy, who voice concern and say the situation is intolerable while not only tolerating it but aiding and abetting it. It's time the UN dissolved the Security Council so those permanent members can't hold the rest of the world hostage any more while they pursue their own colonial ambitions. It's really hard to hold onto hope and not despair. And every time I look at my loved and treasured granddaughter, who has known nothing but love, I think of those children in Gaza and feel devastated.
Agreed indeed and sadly so , when I was a boy I was a hippy who thought we can change the world , the world has changed and it is a much more dangerous place than when I was a boy.
It often does feel hopeless because the global working class lacks the money which is the coin of the global capitalists. We lack unity and a common goal. Toppling crapitalists ought to be that single goal.
Absolutely get where you are coming from! Add to that, as an environmental professional I deal daily with our rush to make humans extinct. Never has my mantra been more appropriate 'it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness'. But these days I'm struggling to find the matches . . . 😢
Yes. You're absolutely right.
It's beyond obvious that the planet cannot continue sustaining what we're doing to it.
Yet Facebook keeps trying to feed me climate change denial conspiracies from pages I don't follow, and never expressed any interest in (while suppressing content from the left-wing socially-liberal pages that I actually follow).
It's desperately dispiriting
I am 72 and I have a lot of acquaintance s(I used to think of as friends) who imagine themselves as being very alternative and non mainstream non consumers ..buy they have completely consumed the mainstream silence and or minimisation and or outright lies about both climate change and Gaza.. their ignorance about the climate I could just about tolerate and do my best to educate and mitigate...but on Gaza I cannot empathise with them in any way..
I feel myself getting more and more isolated but I will not give my energy to people who dismiss as "complicated "or "political " the cruel beyond belief actions of Israeli government forces on Gaza
Decent people with integrity can be found, but not easily. And I can't cope with people who don't see what savages the Israelis are becoming. I am quite ashamed of my Jewish antecedents and also of some satisfaction at recent photos of Tel Aviv. It isn't just Gaza btw. They have never stopped west Bank raids.
100% matey. I've never felt more gloomy about the state of the world. It's felt like a doom spiral for a while, but my god, the past couple of years have been a dystopian nose dive. I never thought I'd be affected by the news and current affairs so much, but a live-streamed genocide and the subsequent gaslighting are driving me mad. I really appreciate your (angry) voice. Makes me feel a little less crazy in these crazy times.
Thanks mate. It's nice to receive some support from a fellow Tom
I went to the GP last Tuesday. He's referred me for counselling via local services as the NHS list is pretty unimaginable. I told him I knew this before I got the appointment, he knows my past history (from age 19-77, spasmodic and erratic depression/stress), and he does his best - he accepted my dismissal of cbt quite calmly, as I'd tried it twice. Current meds on max as good as any others at a guess, and he and I agree over that. So I reckon someone outside friends/family is the best offer I will get, and feel quite relieved. My daughter and I are getting irritable with each other. We live together, she's single, I'm divorced, neither of us looking for an alternative, so we both realised that I should "do something".
You are not alone.
I'm sorry you're having a tough time Liz.
I don't want to pretend to be any kind of mental health expert but I always find that the things that give me a lift when I'm down are exercise, social life, good food, and creative activities/hobbies.
They're not solutions on their own, but they help to alleviate my depressive episodes.
I understand entirely. I teach Politics, which means I have to engage with the news constantly and it definitely wrecks my mental health. Not just the horrors of what's happening, but being perpetually gaslit and lied to. As such, I've tuned out of the latest round of atrocities in Gaza for self-preservation, and I think it's helped my mental wellbeing. As self-help guru Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." Modern politics is designed to break people who care, It's OK to step back once in a while.
Yes. It gets tough when your work requires abyss-gazing.
Good quote!
I completely get where you’re coming from, but I feel like we owe it to the people of Gaza not to look away. I don’t judge anyone who feels like they have to, but I just can’t. But fucking hell, you’re not wrong about the gaslighting.
I’ve stopped looking too, though I confess I’m kind of addicted to following the latest Trump shenanigans on alternative media.
I catch headlines from the likes of Owen Jones, but for now read no further. My mental health is bad enough as it is. I still go on as many of the weekly Palestine marches in Leeds and I wear a prominent “stop arming Israel” badge wherever I go. It’s not much, but I tell myself it’s better than being completely silent.
You have said it for me. And not just Gaza. I've noticed how on YouTube most of the reports on yhr latest unprovoked attack on Iran is reported in such a way you would think Iran is the aggressor.
Israel is the victim all the time and MSM is still supporting them.
As a friend said to me how can you be told that you have mental health problems. Surely you would have problems if the situation didn't depress you.
I have to say I feel increasingly angry and negative, but then again I've felt that off and on ever since Thatcher was elected! It's been a downward trajectory, and I do feel that there is not much hope for humanity. Nevertheless, I don't want to die cheering for the wrong side, so I keep arguing and disagreeing online. It's made finding a job difficult but I no longer care - I'm in my sixties now, anyway. I distract myself with Chinese historical dramas and detective story audiobooks, language studies and so on.
I don't want to die cheering for the wrong side
I love your attitude
Thanks for your words of reason that drop into my inbox regularly, which make me feel a little better knowing I'm not the only one who feels helpless. I'm having some mental health problems at the moment so I actively avoid MSN but the relentless bad news isn't totally avoidable. I've just become a grandmother and for the first time in my life I'm genuinely worried about what kind of world my granddaughter will be living in when she reaches my age. Look after yourself in these difficult times, you are important and special.
Thank you for your kind words Carolyn, and congratulations on becoming a grandmother!
I feel your pain. It’s good to know we‘re not alone.
Those intentionally complicit in this genocide barely pass for humans in the original sense of the word. I have almost given up hope on them.
Those who remain silent are usually the same ones who walk past homeless people and refuse to make eye contact, whose indulgence in physical looks only attract like minded people and who are quick to tear someone down. Another group to whom I’ve almost given up hope.
I kind of understand the desire to look away and concentrate on the things you can actually fix in your own life. Sometimes I have to take breaks from writing about the shit state of politics and the world for the sake of my mental health.
But it's also important to remember that all it takes for evil to succeed if for good people to do nothing, right?
I admire your moral purity
Agree wholeheartedly. The burden of this is immense and that's just for those of us with a conscience who are de facto impotent to do anything, but who have not turned their backs on the prolonged suffering and likely extermination of a significant proportion of the Gaza Palestinian population. And when you imagine it can get no worse, it does.
As a trans woman, when the Supreme Court handed down its abhorrent and ill-conceived judgment in April, for weeks following it seemed as though life was becoming a series of battles to be fought and protests to attend.
For a natural optimist that's a seriously unhealthy set of circumstances to be coping with concurrently. And yet I am not alone; you are not alone; WE are not alone ... as your post eloquently recognises. I attended a trans rights rally in Liverpool (before a march for Palestine) at which someone expressed this perfectly.
To everyone who is campaigning about one or more of the plethora of injustices which are currently being perpetrated against minorities across the UK ... across the world, mass activism is when activism is most effective ... it's when all the campaigners and campaigns unite to challenge the common foe, the oppressors we share. We must support each other, if we can, support each others causes and ... if you see a comrade, a brother or sister in distress caused by their own circumstances, shared or personal then reach out a hand and express your love with generosity; don't leave them to founder on an island of loneliness.
You make some great points. We often walk past need because we don't have enough money to fix the whole problem. Small kindnesses do help.
Yes it is all so overwhelming that the instinct is to try to block it all out, thank you for being there to make sure we don't. Take care.
Sorry mate, but much as I find the events in Gaza very challenging to watch, I don’t think it constitutes genocide. Its a great word to use if you want likes and affirmations, but in truth you can’t easily prove intent
By the measure being used by peeps on the left, then Russia is also undertaking a genocide in Ukraine. Agree?
‘acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group’
Russia and Ukraine are both armed states. Gaza has no one except it's few militias. That is not an equal situation or match.
Gaza IS a genocide by an armed state on an open air prison. Israel is armed by a terrorist empire (the US/NATO). Your assertion is wrong.
Keep on saying it’s genocide, doesn’t magically make it so. There’s a definition and proof would be needed I’m afraid
What planet are you on?
ICC and others say it is a genocide. The dead and burned are proof. Stop trolling. 🧌
I don’t think that’s correct about the ICC. Investigating war crimes on both sides, but not genocide as far as I can see
Oh, btw, bodies burn in all wars. Its not a criteria when assessing genocide
PS I don’t think raising valid points, qualifies as trolling
Even satanyahu has made clear many times his intent is the complete eradication of the Palestinians. Ffs your gaslight post on this thread is sickening.
Has he? I must have missed that.
If Israel is attempting to eradicate the Palestinians, he they’re doing a poor job as they only killed 5% so far
And that’s before they get to the West Bank
Seriously?
Yes its a serious and valid comment
Just because a small group of you living in your own echo chamber believe it is genocide, doesn’t make it so
You’ll need to make an objective and rational argument for it being genocide, just like the rest of us grown ups
I think that you will find that many human rights groups are calling it genocide. And numerous governments around the world. You think you're a grown up but you sound like a petulant child.
This "Ian Smart" account is a genocidal zionist. There's no point trying to reason with it, and it's never going to say anything worth hearing.
(blocked)
You obviously haven't been listening to Israeli politicians who have openly stated their genocidal intent from the start.
Happy to accept your point if you can point me to the politician who says explicitly their intention is to destroy the Palestinians
Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, Smotrich, former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also springs to mind, and that's just off the top of my head. Oh and the ICC ARE investigating genocide, so stop telling lies.
Sorry Maureen, can you point to where they have said that they intend to eradicate the Palestinians please? And also where the ICC has said it is investigating genocide please?
I just want to get to the bottom of it
No. I've answered your original question and I've got better things to do than indulge your phoney 'curiosity'.
And therein lies the issue Maureen
The truth is that you can’t provide the evidence to support your claims as you’re just repeating a phrase others have used, who in turn are repeating what others have said.
And of course there is a reason for accusing Israel of genocide - it’s an attempt to attach some sort of equivalence between what’s happening in Gaza and what happened under Nazi’s, a familiar anti-semitic trope
It’s quite insidious really
None of what I’ve said above in anyway excuses the war crimes that have been committed on both sides of course
I understand and agree completely, it's depressing and infuriating.
I mentor young writers in Gaza for https://wearenotnumbers.org/ and I could have written this piece myself. One of my young mentees told me a couple of days ago that she had to have surgery for a broken nose and during the operation her heart stopped because she was weak from starvation. Others are going hungry so their younger brothers and sisters can eat. I also am caught between disbelief, outrage and fury. When I think how we used to talk about Germans and how they must have known what was going on and did nothing, now no one can pretend they didn't know, and yet the shameless denial and doubling down, and worse, the hypocrisy of Starmer and Lammy, who voice concern and say the situation is intolerable while not only tolerating it but aiding and abetting it. It's time the UN dissolved the Security Council so those permanent members can't hold the rest of the world hostage any more while they pursue their own colonial ambitions. It's really hard to hold onto hope and not despair. And every time I look at my loved and treasured granddaughter, who has known nothing but love, I think of those children in Gaza and feel devastated.
You are correct. The security council needs to go.
Agreed indeed and sadly so , when I was a boy I was a hippy who thought we can change the world , the world has changed and it is a much more dangerous place than when I was a boy.
It often does feel hopeless because the global working class lacks the money which is the coin of the global capitalists. We lack unity and a common goal. Toppling crapitalists ought to be that single goal.