Instagram Activism (or Silence)

Some days there is nothing to say.

Some weeks go by in a wink.

Some good, some not so.

Work. Fun. Dinner. Sunshine. Rain. Exhaustion. Sleep. 

War.

Like we really need another outlet to read about the horrible things going on in this world. I certainly don’t.

But this remains a personal blog, and I am inclined (from time to time) to investigate my relationship to it — bad news, that is.

—

I’m not oblivious. But I’m certainly not… an expert. I wouldn’t be able to get anything done. How does anyone get anything done?

And I am absolutely not posting on Instagram about it.

To each their own. Though, if everyone felt the way I did, many people wouldn’t know a lick about what’s going on in the world. So, to those who repost I say: thank you. I am grateful to you. But it’s not for me.

I often wonder if there are people who notice my social media silence and shun me for it.

I’m sorry, but I think this is ridiculous. 

I understand that using our collective voice is important. That silence in general does not do any good for a cause, for awareness, or the fight against atrocity. 

But neither does my sharing infographics, or reposting that one clip everyone has already seen and lamented one thousand times. This I just cannot get behind.

Again, to each their own. To all you repost-ers out there, I ask:

Is there some nuance I’m missing? Is one more identical story going to change something I cannot see? Am I being avoidant? Ignorant?

Let me absorb and process in my own way, no?

No, many will say. You must speak even when you have nothing to say.

No.

Some days there is nothing to say.

Here is what I will say.

It may not be the right time — is there ever such a thing? — but I will say it even so.

I love people. 

I’ve said this many times before, and I will say it many times again: I genuinely love humanity.

Yes, even in times of war. Especially then.

Not so much the people who have lost themselves so far as to crush innocent lives — I do not feel love for them, no. (Though I would lying if I said there did not exist a certain rotten sort of pity.)

But in times like these — all times, every moment — my heart swells and overflows for those enduring hardship. I cannot pretend to know your level of pain. But we are human. We are fundamentally the same. And I love you. 

—

I don’t like to speak when I feel I have nothing to say — so I don’t. As a practice.

I don’t like to write when I feel I have nothing to say — but I do. As a practice.

ONWARDS,

Mag