Retweeting During the Apocalypse
I am hyper online with nothing to add
It is an interesting and unfortunate time to be a chronically online person.
For one, when my father asks me for updates about the ongoing Iran and Israel conflict; the one Israel is igniting simultaneously with its genocide in Palestine, I turn to various sources of news to relay credible information, and then, soon after, to Twitter (X), because what even is credible information anymore?
Being chronically online entails being invested in too many things. So my feed was a healthy mix of the news and entertainment. Currently, it is bubbling with dissecting Sabrina Carpenter and whether the horrific airplane crash was actually planned or how International law is unable to enforce anything on Israel.
So what is really disappointing me, is how I am a helpless audience to it all. I can relay the information, dive into the history and specifics of it and yet have nothing that I can add to the discourse on the wars, genocide, politics and legal analysis of it because I am more confident in my opinion about how Sabrina is an iconic satirical artist whose new album cover does wonders for the debate on “true feminism” and “female sexual liberty” than I am on how Jaishankar’s statement to Iran’s external affairs minister means almost nothing if India continues to remain Israel’s largest weapons buyer.
It isn’t a matter of credibility or how oversaturation of information has numbed our senses to violence, but about demanding value to our opinions and perception.
In the aspect of the “big picture,” we are nothing and that as consumers and audience makes us most vulnerable to being dismissed and not getting the entire image. Because yes, I am not special and yet watch me argue how the assassination of a pop culture figure like Sabrina Carpenter affects every person who has been trying to find sexual liberation without feeling like they are surrendering their feminism. Some women enjoy their hyper-sexuality and are not doing it for male gaze. They might love kneeling but be absolutely disgusted by the gender. Yes, yes, not all men. Similarly, sometimes, not outrightly condemning an International attack and not backing the statement of SCO is showing complete support for a war criminal and not a sign of diplomacy.
Our news is absurd, oversaturated, biased and maynot even portray the complete picture and thus our social media platform is even more so. We are equipped with forums where we can speak our mind and read other’s thoughts and then relay them to even more people so sometimes the information starts overlapping.
Two entirely separate events, with four degrees of separation between them, get processed in the same scroll. A fun game of Chinese whispers with higher stakes.
Can Sabrina Carpenter’s branding help me understand global conflict? Do I need my news to come sandwiched between something glossy, aesthetic, and glamorous? Maybe. After all, I do know celebrities who are raising funds for war-torn countries while doing press tours for their next projects.
So the next time someone asks me for the state of international affairs, I might just have to find the answer lodged between a Pedro Pascal lookalike contest, analysis of pop girlies catering to the male gaze, and an article about Donald Trump being confused about whether he should authorize an attack on Iran or not.
