AN AMERICAN FRIEND emailed me over the Christmas holidays to say that she and her husband had decided to buy a kitten. Their decision, she told me, was an attempt to find some way of escaping from the horrors facing her country and the world in 2024. Their plan is to think about their new kitten 80 per cent of the time. She assures me that they are feeling much better already.
Focussing on a small, affectionate, furry creature sounds like a reasonable New Year’s resolution to me. It is becoming increasingly disturbing, as several people have commented to me, to watch the news on television, or even to read about it.
Many find it emotionally distressing, for example, to observe the relentless Israeli assault on the civilian population of Gaza, the continued suffering of the Israeli hostages and their families, and the calculated ongoing injustice being inflicted on the Palestinian people of the Occupied Territories who merely want to live as a free people on their own land.
Russia’s brutal ongoing invasion of Ukraine is just one of many other conflicts today in which it is so often the weakest and most innocent who suffer. Hunger and malnutrition also target the most defenceless and can be the hardest thing of all to watch.
Amidst all the daily horror on our screens, nothing is more terrifying than the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House, an eventuality that would not only damage, or even destroy, US democracy but would also make every single problem that the world faces appreciably worse.
We are not, needless to say, immune to distressing events in our own country, from the mayhem on Dublin’s streets in November to the recent sinister arson attacks, from violence against women to the plight of refugees and the homeless.
However, if for understandable reasons we decide to focus 80 per cent of our time on the things that bring us happiness and joy, on our metaphorical kittens as it were, whether it be family or friends or the enjoyment of life, we should be sure to continue to dedicate much of the remainder of our time to reflecting on the often painful realities of the world in which we live.
There are at least three reasons for not devoting all our attention to kittens. The first reason for maintaining our interest in domestic and world events, however unsettling and disturbing we may find them, is precisely that those who wreak the most havoc, those who are content to inflict suffering on the innocent, generally want us to look away.
Precisely because bad actors have an interest in encouraging us to turn our attention away from their wrongdoing and atrocities, we should keep our eyes resolutely open.
Second, although as individuals we may often feel impotent, we can collectively, especially in democracies, help to shape public opinion and the societies in which we live. We can influence the policies of our governments on, for example, Gaza, Ukraine, and the plight of those in need.
Third, our continued effort to observe and understand events in the world around us represents our most effective riposte to the torrent of fake news and false narratives that increasingly sweep across social media, as well as the many fraudulent media outlets now posing as journalism.
Watching the spokespersons of various governments defending the indefensible can sometimes be almost as distressing as watching the violence for which they present lamentable excuses.
Speaking of kittens, we might recall the feline term used to describe another stratagem to divert us from the truth. The political strategy of deliberately making a shocking announcement to divert media attention away from problems or failures in other areas has become known as the “dead cat” strategy. The strategy became ubiquitous during Boris Johnson’s term as British Prime Minister. Every shocking act or statement was calculated to distract attention from a previous one. Johnson was gambling, as Trump does all the time, that much of the public would become so fed up that it would no longer care.
Much of the disinformation with which we are bombarded every day is a smokescreen for skulduggery. Reading decent newspapers and publications, listening to serious radio programmes and podcasts, watching insightful news and current affairs programmes are part of our armoury of weapons in the defence of decency and democracy. It can be personally distressing to observe things that unsettle us, but it is a price worth paying.
Personally, I understand perfectly why my friend has bought a kitten. I prefer to watch a football match than the latest news bulletin, and I often do. But in 2024, as in previous years, I will steel myself to face the unavoidable anguish of following world events. Maybe for 20% of the time. Not to be a scaredy-cat.
Bobby McDonagh is a former Irish Ambassador to the EU, UK and Italy. He is an executive coach and commentator on subjects around EU and Brexit.
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