FROM this week’s news ON: society generally, and broader issues [Note: Content Warning - may be links to distressing reports on this topic. Reader discretion is advised]

Note: CONTENT WARNING - some of this content is about upsetting, disturbing or triggering events & attitudes. Seek competent help - including professional - if you need it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that linked articles may contains names and/or images of deceased people. READER CAUTION IS RECOMMENDED! For anyone distressed by anything in this post, or for any other reason considering seeking support, resources are available in Australia here, here, and here. In other nations, you will have to do an Internet search using terms such as “mental health support - <your nation>” (which, for instance, may lead to this, this, and this, in the USA, or this, this, and this, in France [biased towards English-language - my apologies]), or perhaps try https://www.befrienders.org/. 

Note: in my “from the news” posts, quotes are shown italicised and blue, my comments are in a different shade of blue, and “good” items are shown in green. I have loosely grouped the posts where such seemed reasonable, but that is subjective (i.e., my opinion - others are free to disagree), and challenging, as some posts belong in multiple “groups”.

Frrom this week’s news on society generally, and broader issues (note: I may continue to add links for a few days, possibly up to a week, after these are published):

• “Infant, Name Once Known”   https://www.sapiens.org/culture/infant-name-once-known-poem-jenny-l-davis/   “A poet-anthropologist of the Chickasaw Nation honours infant remains historically used in teaching collections at the University of Illinois.”   

• “What Was The Earliest Surgery? - PBS Eons”   https://youtu.be/kauDsIeIMxs?si=qzH87r-D0FOf8yq7   Non-human animals have been observed applying medical care to others  
  

• “Can Social Media Activism Actually Work? - PBS Voices”   https://youtu.be/0IkQ-AxJb8A?si=dG_cJ1dev7lSr37E   Yes, is the answer - if it is done correctly      Also,  “(efficacy of) nonviolent protests”   https://gnwmythrsglossary.blogspot.com/2023/04/efficacy-of-nonviolent-protests.html   including links to   “Post No. 1,614 - How Large Do Movements Have to Be to Succeed?”   https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2020/07/post-no-1614-how-large-do-movements.html   and   “Powering Learning about Nonviolent Action”   https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/index.php/   “The Global Nonviolent Action Database provides free access to information about hundreds of cases of nonviolent action, from all continents and most countries, for learning and for citizen action. The database is a project of Swarthmore College”   and https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/browse   &   https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/search/node?keys=   

• “Regardless of the platform or algorithm, it’s humans that make social media toxic”   https://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-03-20/regardless-of-the-platform-or-algorithm-its-humans-that-make-social-media-toxic.html   
  

• “Finland is world's happiest country for 7^th year while US drops out of top 20”   https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240320-finland-world-happiest-country-7th-year-us-drops-out-of-top-20   “The most (and least) happy Australians — and how we compare to the world”   https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-most-and-least-happy-australians-and-how-we-compare-to-the-world/1t5kze9tk   “Australians are happier than Kiwis, Americans, and Brits, according to a new report. But there’s also a generational divide that highlights a “worrying trend”.”  
  

• “Cam's childhood was turned into social media content. She's now fighting for rights she never had | SBS Dateline”   https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/cams-childhood-was-turned-into-social-media-content-now-shes-fighting-to-protect-other-kids-right-to-privacy/tu2hluulz   Others have also raised the problems involved in over-sharing of children’s lives (including CSA). I would not blame the child for breaking off all relations with the so-called “parent”  

• “Scroll on: why your screen-time habits aren’t as bad as you think they are”   https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/mar/16/scroll-on-screen-time-habits-not-bad-for-you-attention-span-brain   “There are very real problems with the ways new digital technologies are developed and implemented, and often the decision-making processes involved drift quite drastically away from social responsibility. But I would argue that we are also spending a lot of time and effort worrying about (and researching) the wrong sorts of questions: asking whether screen time is good or bad, or how much screen time is too much, doesn’t really get us anywhere, because those questions don’t reflect the reality of how we use digital technologies.”      but   a The Guardian exclusive reports   “Leading adviser quits over Instagram’s failure to remove self-harm content”   https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/16/instagram-meta-lotte-rubaek-adviser-quits-failure-to-remove-self-harm-content-   

• “Mem's a Boomer. Why her generation drove social change and isn't just about house prices”   https://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/article/mems-a-boomer-heres-how-her-generation-paved-the-way-for-social-change/f3g2y3jfh   “Younger generations often vocalise their resentment towards Baby Boomers and their inaction on climate policy, their hold on property and economic prosperity, but the work that Boomers have done to create positive changes in society is often overlooked.   ...   the Baby Boomer generation — often blamed for key issues such as climate change and housing affordability. However, experts say those born between 1946 and 1964 played a crucial role in fighting for social change and breaking taboos”   The truth is that, as with all groups, some people are good (those of us fighting for social change and climate action and lower house prices - many of whom are lifelong renters - and some are bad - living down to the stereotype  
  

My links for activism post may aid any activism you may decide to do on any/all of these. If you do, don’t get too fixated on specific instances of problems - important though they may well be: take a moment to also consider the broader issues these incidents and groups of incidents may suggest/reveal.

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering”.

Copyright © Kayleen White 2016-2024     NO AI   I do not consent to any machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence (AI), generative AI, large language model, machine learning, chatbot, or other automated analysis, generative process, or replication program to reproduce, mimic, remix, summarise, or otherwise  replicate any part of this post or other posts on this blog via any means. Typo’s may be inserrted deliberately to demonstrate this is not an AI product.     Otherwise, fair and reasonable use is accepted under Creative Commons 4.0 on an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike basis   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/