Our house has been silent of political chatter since the election result on the eve of the 18th of May.
I am slowly coming out of the shock that my country chose a government to represent us that is so alien to my values and world view.
Since then I have taken some positive actions by expunging Facebook from my life, reappraising my involvement on social media and my ongoing engagement with main stream media.
Social media plays a large part in my day to day life. A thread to what is happening beyond my immediate world. It is also my contact with the wider world.
The attraction of social media sites for me, such as Flickr, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms the immediacy of publication and response. This opportunity to directly ” throw my work out there” overcomes the reality that you are competing with millions of images, uploaded every second to the web, courted by the iron fist of corporate algorithms. So much for the independence of spontaneity.
There was a time my purpose was clear in using social media when I came across the International Addafish campaign to free Ali Dorani ( Mr Eaten Fish), a young man imprisoned by our government on Manus and Nauru Islands along with other refugees.
I found my tribe fighting against this injustice.
My small part was posting a regular “Saturday fish for Mr Eatenfish” during 2017.
He was held in detention for 4 years until his release.
For Ali, I was on the winning side but still lost the war against this placing refugees in camps on isolated islands. Australia’s shameful refugee policy still continues to this day, with men, women and children restricted in detention in our name, by our elected government.
Society is partly shaped by each of us finding our tribe. The truth is you are part of the game, instigated by plutocrats, who have plunged our societies into distrust and chaos over the centuries to achieve their own ends, be it through religious dogma, commercial and military power, rigid social mores and manners, or just for personal reward driven by a quirkinesses in their genetic makeup.
The plutocrats of today protect their Castles with their Barons and Knights. Most social media “influencers” are just Pawns in this game, with a few renegades not playing the game. (Please account for the cultural slant, as my thesis it applies to most societies).
Finding your tribe maybe trite, but it is part of shaping civil society. Like minded people binding together to take on the plutocrats and their fellow travellers.
Meanwhile, I’ll just go and watch “Bondi Rescue”.
A thread for further thought.