i think this comic brings up a few important questions:
what exactly are we doing when we share internet memes about important issues?
what is the value of keeping something in the public discourse if that discourse stays within our circle of friends, and we don’t venture beyond that circle to speak to elected officials and ask for action?
how much are we actually informing ourselves about the issues we tweet about and share on facebook? at what point do we reach information overload on heart-wrenching issues?
how different is the situation in nigeria compared to things happening elsewhere, including in the US, apart from the sheer number of girls taken all at once?
why did this incident get our attention? i am 100% in agreement that any act of violence against girls like this one needs to be in our consciousness, and that we need to continue to move toward valuing the lives of women and girls around the world and right in our neighborhoods (and their education). but what about the lives of men and boys? people of both genders have been targeted by the boko haram — and by governments and militias the world over. it all needs to stop.
one of my friends pointed out that nigeria has some oil reserves that first-world governments and corporations would love to get their greedy little hands on, and he suggested that one reason this incident is getting attention at the governmental level in the US has less to do with humanitarian outcry on social media, and more to do with those oil reserves. it’s a cynical view, to be sure — but i do wonder where it fits in the grand scheme of things. and how can we tell? by no means would i ever advocate that the missing 200-200 girls deserve anything less than our attention, compassion and action. so how do we balance that with information about other possible motives by people with something to gain by keeping the incident in the media and urging our government to act?
i think this comic brings up a few important questions:
what exactly are we doing when we share internet memes about important issues?
what is the value of keeping something in the public discourse if that discourse stays within our circle of friends, and we don’t venture beyond that circle to speak to elected officials and ask for action?
how much are we actually informing ourselves about the issues we tweet about and share on facebook? at what point do we reach information overload on heart-wrenching issues?
how different is the situation in nigeria compared to things happening elsewhere, including in the US, apart from the sheer number of girls taken all at once?
why did this incident get our attention? i am 100% in agreement that any act of violence against girls like this one needs to be in our consciousness, and that we need to continue to move toward valuing the lives of women and girls around the world and right in our neighborhoods (and their education). but what about the lives of men and boys? people of both genders have been targeted by the boko haram — and by governments and militias the world over. it all needs to stop.
one of my friends pointed out that nigeria has some oil reserves that first-world governments and corporations would love to get their greedy little hands on, and he suggested that one reason this incident is getting attention at the governmental level in the US has less to do with humanitarian outcry on social media, and more to do with those oil reserves. it’s a cynical view, to be sure — but i do wonder where it fits in the grand scheme of things. and how can we tell? by no means would i ever advocate that the missing 200-200 girls deserve anything less than our attention, compassion and action. so how do we balance that with information about other possible motives by people with something to gain by keeping the incident in the media and urging our government to act?