How To Stay Sane
Emotions run high. Everyone is angry, scared, worried, nervous, frantic and dismayed by the unfolding chaos. Everything is more magnified because of how soon after the Nobel Prize this is happening. So much for the “Yunus Effect” — are we back to square one? The farther away from home we are, the more our anxiety increases because of a feeling of impotence (although our friends/family in BD are equally helpless). This will not be over quickly, so I have a few thoughts.
1. This is NOT the “worst ever”. Bangladesh has seen this level of violence and worse. Coups, counter-coups, massacres, jail killings, lynch mobs, gunfights, public execution, we have seen all of these and more. The difference is that now there are multiple TV channels (where there was one state TV) and satellites beaming those images into our comfortable diaspora homes. No lag, no filter.
2. It can always get worse. There are many more nightmare scenarios possible, including assassination and/or military coup. We all hope that does not happen and constitutional solutions are followed through.
3. The debate about journalists dropping camera and helping victims is a complex issue. One can see both sides of this debate. South Africa’s Kevin Carter became youngest Pulitzer Prize winner but committed suicide because he couldn’t deal with the intense criticism of him for not helping the famine victim in his photo. There are journalist codes of ethics that recommend journalists to not get directly “involved” in the situation (thus becoming the story or manipulating the outcome) but rather to continue documenting. In the Carter situation, all journos were warned not to touch any potentially contagious victims. This sounds heartless, but these are codes the profession had to develop to negotiate the multitudes of crises they face. Of course people break this rule based on their own momentary reaction all the time, but we should not get upset at journalists for “not helping.” Publishing sensationalist photos is a different matter, but again they may be doing it thinking that will shock the AL and BNP into coming to their senses.
4. Asif has told me that a lot of people now come to DP to see the debates, including key international decisionmakers in human rights. If we are trying to set “example”, let’s not lose our tempers with each other, even if our POVs diverge. I say this as someone who has lost his temper and posted personal attacks that I regretted later (esp. in the Soc.Culture.Bangladesh days).
5. Obviously everyone is horrified by what is going on. But let’s also not spend all our energies doing ha-huthash (I have to fight that impulse in myself). At some point in time, especially if this crisis drags on, we have to decide whether we want to just continue looking at and documenting every moment of this catastrophe, or channel our energies into something positive. Please do not take this as insensitivity, I am sitting here in anguish as is everyone.