If you aren’t angry then you aren’t paying attention – that’s what people like me say all the time, isn’t it?
When we say this, we are implying that if you aren’t on Twitter every minute of the day, furiously paraphrasing what someone else said about the trending topic, then you must be pig ignorant – or dangerous.
After a fortnight of arguments online about a variety of extremely sensitive topics, it strikes me that airing an ill-considered or angry public opinion, due to perceived pressure created by social media, may always be that helpful – for you or the issues concerned.
This notion, that because you have not outlined your personal position in a Facebook status or a Twitter thread, with respect to current events, then you can be safely assumed to be uncaring or ignorant, is a bit daft.
Every day, there are millions of crises occurring all over the globe that even the most informed and morally upright people are unaware of. Insisting that if someone is not as angry as you, about the same thing you are angry about, then they aren’t paying attention is to cast yourself as some kind of morally omnipotent being.
Plus, it’s not that hard to get angry, is it? I am more interested in how people channel their channel anger than I am in the fact they have experienced it.
By all means, wade into whatever you feel is important, but do so with a bit of humility that every time we choose to speak on a certain issue, we do so either unaware (or at the expense) of a great many other plights we could be lending your voice to instead.
While I’m online ranting about child poverty in Glasgow, somewhere else in the world children are being trafficked. While I’m retweeting someone, who is unhappy about being misgendered by a train-announcement, thinking I’m a great guy, somewhere else, someone is being publicly executed for being gay.
It is impossible to become angry about one thing without, in the process, ignoring other things – the mind cannot be in two places at once. It’s one thing to care deeply about an issue and another entirely to accuse others of being ignorant because they do not appear as furious as you.
There is another reason that holding our powder is important. We are often caught between the rock of saying nothing and being regarded as uncaring, and the hard place of saying something and inadvertently being drawn into pointless arguments which have zero impact on anything but our mental health.
I know some will find this a hard one to accept, given how much sh*t appears to be hitting the fan right now, but there is quite simply no way all of us can have an informed opinion about everything. We must therefore ask ourselves whether we help or hinder a particular plight (or our wellbeing) by sucking oxygen out of the room simply because we feel pressure to express a view publicly.
It is possible to have thoughts and feelings whilst also keeping some of them off social media. The people I pay most attention to are the ones who are making their values visible in the real world, through their actions. The rest of it, I’m afraid, is often just impulsive posturing. We all do this, but we don’t all recognise it.
It seems counterintuitive, but sometimes saying very little online is the kindest thing you can do.
Low pay desperately poor for kids
Child poverty is on the rise and it’s a great mystery as to why.
At least, that’s what you might conclude if some of the headlines are anything to go by. And just like many of the other social problems Scotland faces, from homelessness to drug-deaths, child poverty is often presented as an unwieldy, contextless phenomena.
In truth, the recent data shows that most kids in poverty are living in households where at least one parent works. What does this tell us? Well, it tells us that hard work is not always a root out of poverty.
That living costs like rent and childcare are rising faster than wages. Rather than children just finding themselves mysteriously below the breadline – as some headlines suggest – it is clear that many households are struggling due to a system which is dysfunctional.
A system where you may still be poor even if you work really hard and play by the rules. Perhaps the next big story of child poverty may start with the following headline: ‘Jobs no longer pay as children from working households are pushed further into poverty’.
Hip hop hangout launch
A new event to inspire members of Scotland’s eclectic hip hop and grime communities launches this summer, helped by some of the most vital names in the scene – and myself. BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Rap Show host Tiffany Calver, Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) 2020 winner Nova, rising star Ransom FA as well as your friendly neighbourhood Loki, are among key speakers set for the inaugural HANG (Hip-Hop Aimed Networking with Grime).
It’s a free, all-ages event taking place online and live at Glasgow’s SWG3 on Saturday 31st July. Presented by the Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMA) in partnership with Creative Scotland, HANG is a programme aimed at supporting artists and celebrating the diversity of the country’s hip hop and grime communities.
If this sounds like something you might be into, or may be of interest to someone you know, more information is available at: www.officialsama.com/hang
