#partially personal rant
3 years ago, when I was living in the US, if you would have asked me what I miss from home, sure I would have mentioned the pain au raisin, the centuries-old cities, being a 1h flight away from completely different countries…
But one of the thing I missed the most, quite surprisingly, was the news. The big old news on TV, an efficient, unbiased recap of what happened in the world in the last 24 hours. I craved information. I craved geopolitics. I felt like I was always missing something, that I was always behind in some way, not completely grasping what the hell was going on in this world.
So when I came back, I made it my personal mission to stay informed as much as possible. This includes watching the news in the morning, watching the news in the evening, watching our French equivalent of a talk show after that. Every day.
Did exposing myself to terrible news day after day has an effect my (already poor back then) mental health? Quite certainly. But at least I felt in control again. I knew about things.
Flash forward almost 3 years later, April 4th 2022. I wake up at 7:50, fix myself some breakfast, sit in the couch, turn on the TV. The news are about to start. I’m unemployed, I have depression, I have nothing else to do.
8:00, the news start. I have a cup of coffee in one hand. A toast in another. I’m ready to take in everything I am about to take in. Shower me with information pretty lady on the TV!
Except I don’t thing anyone is ready to wake up to dead bodies laying on a street of the Ukrainian city of Boutcha.
And as I lay there in the couch, watery eyes lost in the void, I think to myself “did we become so used to the horror of the world that we don’t even take the time to blur dead bodies on national tv anymore?”. Hell it was 8:00am. Some kids somewhere were probably putting their shoes in front of the tv before going to school and saw that too.
And I know! I know what you’re going to say! “You wanted information? Here you go!” (this one’s is a little bit on me I’ll admit it) or “consider yourself lucky to have access to unbiased, uncensored information about the world!” and yes I am grateful for that, or even “that’s the whole point the images are supposed to shock people so they can realize what’s truly going on there!” and yes probably, but at what cost?
Don’t you think those people, those victims of an atrocious war crime, deserve more respect? Don’t you think their friends and family shouldn’t have to watch the bodies of their loved ones on tv?
The number of victims is already shocking. I truly don’t think showing long shots of boots sticking out of a common grave was needed.
Tonight for the 1st time is almost 3 years I didn’t watch the news. Because I can’t take it anymore. Because apparently the dead bodies at 8:00am were the last drop before I lost faith in this world to the point I don’t want to hear about it anymore
