I have not commented on the Palestine situation at all, anywhere on the internet, since the recent invasion started. I was originally hesitant to say anything because I am neither Israeli nor Palestinian, have no personal connections to anyone there, and have not done a ton of research into the politics in that region so I don’t consider myself qualified to speak on it. That is still true, but just reading the discussions taking place on Reddit and the more “mainstream” Lemmy instances, I also realized that there is basically no way that I can engage in a good faith debate with anyone there. Surprise surprise, the “tankies are all guilty of whataboutism and never address actual claims against governments they support” crowd has been unironically going “but Hamas!!!” to every single thing that has happened in the recent days and weeks. I’m not in a good mental health state (have never been in my whole life if I really think about it) and it’s getting to the point where even thinking of how to respond to various hot takes on various threads, and imagining the responses that my comments will get (which I do before commenting most things) has gotten me angry to the point where my hands literally shake and my heart goes so fast I can hear it through the arteries in my ears. Like genuinely physically angry and wanting to punch something, way more of an negative emotional reaction than any regular person at a hot take on the internet I assume, which, I really do have diagnosed mental health issues so that’s probably why. That’s really unhealthy and I’d rather not spend my time on social media angry all the time, which is supposed to be a break from my job and IRL issues, so I’ve more or less decided at this point to take a big step back from hot topic political issues and socialist advocacy for the foreseeable future, publicly anyway. In other words I’ll probably just lurk around this instance and political content in general, as I still think it’s important to read those and know what the general takes, both good and bad, are, but I really don’t feel like debating anymore. Didn’t really take a big turning point decision either, just gradually realized that this is probably better for my mental health.
I’m not saying everyone should be doing what I’m doing obviously, but the short of it is I just don’t think I’m mentally stable enough to do a ton of “advocacy” on the internet, so I won’t do that at least for now. Still a Marxist-Leninist “tankie”, just more of a private one than the norm on this instance.
Just wanted to rant a bit but also to share what’s been going on with me and posting on Lemmy/grad. Anyone feel the same way?
Instead of mainstream social media, I’ve been directing the energy that ongoing events in Palestine stirs up in me into educating myself on related topics, and just engaging the topic in conversations with the people closest to me. Similarly, when I feel too tense or riled up about news coverage and commentary, I focus on long-form content not directly concerning the current bombing campaign, like history books or YouTube lectures.
What I probably need to do more of generally is just disengage altogether, but overall I do feel like it serves my mental health better when I avoid the punditry in favor of more substantial content.
Anyway I think that advocacy is important and valuable, but I think it’s absolutely your prerogative to limit that or pursue that in a way that supports your overall mental health.
And it’s not just you. Mainstream discourse on the ongoing slaughter of Gaza, and indeed the whole Palestinian struggle and situation, is fucking exhausting and infuriating here in the imperial core. And the facts of what’s happening, even aside from the way the situation is discussed, are just plain heavy and painful.