AN AMERICAN FRIEND emailed me over the Christmas holidays to say that she and her husband had determined to purchase a kitten. Their choice, she informed me, was an try to seek out a way of escaping from the horrors going through her nation and the world in 2024. Their plan is to consider their new kitten 80 per cent of the time. She assures me that they’re feeling significantly better already.
Focussing on a small, affectionate, furry creature feels like an affordable New Year’s decision to me. It is turning into more and more disturbing, as a number of individuals have commented to me, to observe the information on tv, and even to examine it.
Many discover it emotionally distressing, for instance, to watch the relentless Israeli assault on the civilian inhabitants of Gaza, the continued struggling of the Israeli hostages and their households, and the calculated ongoing injustice being inflicted on the Palestinian individuals of the Occupied Territories who merely need to stay as a free individuals on their very own land.
Russia’s brutal ongoing invasion of Ukraine is only one of many different conflicts in the present day by which it’s so typically the weakest and most harmless that suffer. Hunger and malnutrition additionally goal probably the most defenceless and could be the toughest factor of all to observe.
Amidst all of the every day horror on our screens, nothing is extra terrifying than the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House, an eventuality that will not solely injury, and even destroy, US democracy however would additionally make each single drawback that the world faces appreciably worse.
Trials nearer to home
We are usually not, evidently, resistant to distressing occasions in our personal nation, from the mayhem on Dublin’s streets in November to the recent sinister arson assaults, from violence in opposition to ladies to the plight of refugees and the homeless.
However, if for comprehensible causes we resolve to focus 80 per cent of our time on the issues that convey us happiness and pleasure, on our metaphorical kittens because it had been, whether or not it’s household or mates or the enjoyment of life, we should always make sure to proceed to dedicate a lot of the rest of our time to reflecting on the usually painful realities of the world by which we stay.
There are at the very least three causes for not devoting all our consideration to kittens. The first cause for sustaining our curiosity in home and world occasions, nonetheless unsettling and disturbing we might discover them, is exactly that those that wreak probably the most havoc, those that are content material to inflict struggling on the harmless, typically need us to look away.
Precisely as a result of unhealthy actors have an curiosity in encouraging us to show our consideration away from their wrongdoing and atrocities, we should always maintain our eyes resolutely open.
Second, though as people we might typically really feel impotent, we are able to collectively, particularly in democracies, assist to form public opinion and the societies by which we stay. We can affect the insurance policies of our governments on, for instance, Gaza, Ukraine, and the plight of these in want.
Third, our continued effort to watch and perceive occasions on this planet round us represents our best riposte to the torrent of pretend information and false narratives that more and more sweep throughout social media, in addition to the various fraudulent media shops now posing as journalism.
Watching the spokespersons of varied governments defending the indefensible can generally be almost as distressing as watching the violence for which they current lamentable excuses.
Speaking of kittens, we would recall the feline time period used to explain one other stratagem to divert us from the reality. The political technique of intentionally making a surprising announcement to divert media consideration away from issues or failures in different areas has change into often known as the “dead cat” technique. The technique grew to become ubiquitous throughout Boris Johnson’s time period as British Prime Minister. Every surprising act or assertion was calculated to distract consideration from a earlier one. Johnson was playing, as Trump does on a regular basis, that a lot of the general public would change into so fed up that it might not care.
Much of the disinformation with which we’re bombarded every single day is a smokescreen for skulduggery. Reading respectable newspapers and publications, listening to critical radio programmes and podcasts, watching insightful information and present affairs programmes are a part of our armoury of weapons within the defence of decency and democracy. It could be personally distressing to watch issues that unsettle us, however it’s a worth value paying.
Personally, I perceive completely why my good friend has purchased a kitten. I want to observe a soccer match than the latest information bulletin, and I typically do. But in 2024, as in earlier years, I’ll metal myself to face the unavoidable anguish of following world occasions. Maybe for 20% of the time. Not to be a scaredy-cat.
Bobby McDonagh is a former Irish Ambassador to the EU, UK and Italy. He is an govt coach and commentator on topics round EU and Brexit.
