Weaponizing Change: A Cultural Déjà vu is written by Pasithea Chan and shared with The Ugly Writers under the theme The Games We Play for the month of April.
Weaponizing Change: A Cultural Déjà vu
Weaponizing Change
Smile you are live. Everybody saw it happen, but nobody knows how it happened because no one cares why. Within seconds you are a headline that reads: beauty or the beast; a narrative told from a lens’ perspective sans complete facts. If you are wondering why the answer lies in one question: “who can afford the time to analyze when there is a victim to save and a criminal to punish?” We all want justice free of responsibility. Everybody is blame-free because being a victim is easy, sans judge and jury.
In Exodus 2:11, Moses witnesses a Hebrew man being beaten by an Egyptian. He looks around and sees no one there so he strikes him and buries him in the sand. The next day he witnesses two Hebrews fighting and he asks them why they were fighting amongst each other. He notices the same Hebrew man he defended the other day who asked him who made him ruler and if he was going to kill him like the Egyptian man the other day. From then Moses goes into hiding because Pharaoh heard about the incident and was looking to capture him. The moral from this lore is that had Moses known the full story he: (1)wouldn’t have killed the Egyptian to save the Hebrew man, (2) wouldn’t have had to run and be a fugitive, (3) wouldn’t have passed his judgment based on the bias that all Hebrews are persecuted, and all Egyptians are persecutors of Hebrews.
We live in a time where we hear terms such as cancel culture, racist culture, Qanon Culture etc. After democracy, culture is the most abused term followed by information and truth as the number one weapons of choice for abuse. After being commoditized and enslaved by consumerism, we now live, and think based on what we are told or made to see. Everyday you and I hear about brutal murders, corruption, pollution, racism, bad cops, and even monsters for parents. Many of these narratives begin with solid facts and real time stories we witness live but we forget that we witness the segments that were recorded or put on social media via self-declared activities or so-called field investigative journalist. When the Greeks said “Stercus Accidit” aka shit happens, they said it not just from a philosophical view but rather from a factual approach to life. There are bad cops, bad parents, deadbeat boyfriends, and dictators but there are also people who are reckless, or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are people who are partly responsible for their mishaps. Nobody wants to see these segments that’s why we don’t see them on cams or social media or holding mics because nobody enjoys being fact checked, nobody wants to hear the cause-effect, but everyone wants to hear two things: (1) see you in court and (2) X ordered to pay XYZ millions to the victim.
Victim culture or victimology is real. It is the new culture and the bottomless magazine of the weaponized change gun. Change is essential. It is the law that governs the world just as death is inevitable. But change shouldn’t be a gun put in the head of truth because we have biases, agendas, or simply because we are too damn lazy to use our God-given minds. Marching for rights and instilling justice is a human right exercised by a humane and humanitarian human being. Misleading people with half-truths or one-sided narratives to push an agenda pushes the Moses-Israelite Déjà vu. Yes, many are killed for no reason, yes there are too many lives cut short, yes black lives matter, white lives matter, but what matters the most is truth. Truth sets us free because true change brings truth to light for us to live up to our truest form: humane human beings. So next time you feel compelled to comment and judge someone or something based on a clip you just so, remember; sympathy is an instinct, judgment is an action based on a decision rooted in facts for information. Remember, even in countries such as the USA where racism is rampant the numbers don’t lie. Through 2017 there were 457 white people shot, 223 Blacks, 179 Hispanic, 44 other races, and 84 unknown. In 2018 there were 399 Whites, 209 Blacks, 148 Hispanic, 36 other races, and 204 unknown. In 2019 370 Whites, 235 Blacks, 158 Hispanic, 39 other races, and 202 unknown. Meanwhile in 2020 there were 457 Whites, 241 Blacks, 169 Hispanic, 28 other races, and 126 unknown. What do these numbers tell us? The death toll is rising, the causes are petty, the stories have similarities, not all are 100% victims since some were partly responsible for being misunderstood or aggravating their situation, and we need to work on communication.
If anything, media needs to be held accountable in terms of integrity and reporting facts. Guys, you are covering and reporting a situation not opinionating or judging. Ratings matter? Yes, they do for you to stay in business but please keep your disinformation and misrepresentation tactics to yourselves. Someone needs to start holding the media up to criteria and standards that can be quantified. Freedom of the press anyone? Yes, we all want reporters beyond oppression and borders but please keep it within reporting not opinionating or instigating or marketing. Accountability? Yes, we want that because angry people and misinformed people are the most dangerous amidst pandemics, poverty, and of course in times of tragedy. Just stick to be the bringers of good and bad news not the new traders in blood money and the bringing down of empires or regimes. In trying times like these, sustainability is not just something we want to read in financial or banking reports. It’s something that falls under the term sympathy for those who can’t survive the turbulence that comes as an aftermath of weaponized change. Sympathy may be free, but victimology and shifting information culture to recipient rather than seeker; is utilizing sympathy to weaponize change. So next time you choose to misinform the public to push a product or agenda or someone’s politics, remember you are the worst kind of abuse. We may not be prophets, but we certainly do not want to be your Moses; spare us the Déjà vu!
#abuse #trickery, #misrepresentation #halftruths #socialmedia #media #influence, #acountability #justice #humanrights #victimculture #cancelculture #blacklivesmatter #alllivesmatter #factsmatter #liability
Give some love to Pasithea Chan by reading her previous posts here. You can also find her brand of poetry on Facebook.
