Social Media as a Murderer of Western Values
When we think of the West in historical terms, we usually remember Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the birthplaces of Western civilisation, in which realms like philosophy, democracy, science, aesthetics, art, architecture and various other disciplines were founded and developed. The great domains of life have been exported worldwide thus resulting in globalisation. But do we, ourselves, still live by the same principles that the Greeks and Romans have studied? We are defined by terms such as ‘democracy’, ‘rationalism’ and ‘liberty’, but do we still use them as the main values of our society once we hear about tragedies happening around the world?
The morals are being forgotten. Western society is becoming more and more trivial due to the impact of social media.
What do we use social platforms for? ‘To communicate’, ‘to network’, ‘to share our experiences with friends’, ‘to stay in touch with family when we’re away’, ‘to find ideas for outfits and décor’, ‘to pass the time’, ‘to read news’, my peers reply.
My peers and I are stuck in the safe bubble of the current period. Not having lived through war, displacement, exile, or any other tragedy threatening our nation and culture, we get stuck in our daily lives full of capitalistic and individualistic values while sharing them on social media and therefore erasing the principles that the Greeks and Romans have established. We forget that some people are still at war. We forget that we sometimes have the capacity to help. We forget that we’re sometimes responsible for spreading the good.
Ironically, it is the people who aren’t from the West that teach us a lot nowadays. Behrouz Boochani, for instance is a Kurdish-Iranian writer who co-founded the Kurdish magazine Werya which promoted Kurdish culture and politics. In 2013, the offices of Werya were raided by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and he therefore fled Iran. As he was trying to reach Australia, he was imprisoned on Christmas Island and then in Manus Island. While being there, Boochani sent various fragments to his friend Omid Tofighian who then translated them from Persian into English and therefore moderated them into a book. What did Boochani use to secretly send those fragments? Whatsapp!
In No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison, Boochani describes the boat journey from Indonesia to Australia, his detainment in the islands, and the lives and deaths of other prisoners. One of the most important points that he makes throughout the book is that the prison works as a Kyriarchial system. The refugees are therefore tortured by various means. ‘The system transforms prisoners into machines, erasing their human identities, and stripping individuals of autonomy and selfhood’. Oppression is not random but purposeful, designed to isolate and create friction amongst prisoners, leading to despair and broken spirits.
Boochani understands that it is hard for those who haven’t experienced imprisonment to understand what it’s like, therefore, he coins new terms and uses words like ‘the suppressed’, ‘the prisoners’, and ‘human beings’ in order to create some capacity for empathy. He believes that with this new language, he will take the reader to detention camps with him.
Boochani uses social media in order to enlighten the world about the detention of the refugees happening right now. After finding such stories, shouldn’t we all start using social networking sites for different purposes: a bit less for sharing our daily life and a bit more for talking (really talking) and trying to solve problems such as the refugee crisis, climate change, etc? These could be the first steps of the youngsters of the western society leaving the bubble, erasing the confusing and so often criticised line between the Occident and the Orient as well as going back to the morals that the Ancient Greek and Roman have studied.
We mustn’t forget that our community isn’t limited to the people we see every day. The community is everyone, young or old, American or Chinese, male or female, rich or homeless, straight or gay… It’s everyone on this Earth. Boochani says we’re all just human beings. As the police are beating the refugees, he is trying to transfer a humanitarian message not only to the Australian society but to people all around the world. We all need, he says:
Feelings of friendship.
Feelings of compassion.
Feelings of companionship.
Feelings of justice.
And feelings of love.
And I think it’s time to step up our game.
