For the first time in my adult life I cannot watch — or read — the news. Its presentation profoundly upsets me. I have not read, heard or watched the news from Israel/Palestine for over a week. I am afraid doing this has made me feel better. I have asked around and many other people are doing the same.
I would normally consider it shocking to not know what is going on elsewhere in the world. We owe it to common humanity not to ignore inhumanity, wherever it occurs. We should listen and at least sympathize, even if to no concrete purpose. The obligation on journalists is more specific; it is to supply the requisite information, which could be unpleasant to collect and convey. I have visited war zones and found it harrowing. Unspeakable horrors are occurring somewhere on Earth all the time. The media might only have space for just so much. When did you last hear about Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo — or even Ukraine? Yet the effort must be made, not dodged.
Now we have the most intensive, 24/7 coverage of extreme violence that I could recall. The evening news coyly says that scenes are “too awful to show” and then that “viewers may find some scenes distressing,” as if to draw us from whatever else we are doing. This is tabloid television, offering a ghoulish gloss on what news ought to be about, which is facts and their informed interpretation. Yet it is assumed that we cannot handle this, and instead we are given endless vox pops with people on the ground. We need something to stir the emotions. In this respect, television is in a different league from radio and the printed press.
Horror fuels a dangerous instinct: that of blame. Since every vox pop from Gaza must be preceded or followed by one from Israel, viewers are drawn into arguments fueled by heat and not light. There is no history or background. Tearful victims get more time than decisionmakers or experts. After the blame comes the overwhelming sense of impotence. What can we do? Should we shout, march, write or shut up? Mostly, we feel sad and return to our lives, pretending nothing has changed. Or at least most of us do.
Psychologists tell us how to cope with bad news when it affects us personally. They advise us to analyze it, assess the risk, seek a way forward and take action. Yet that is when it is personal and we have some agency over events. The evils of the outside world are in a different mental sphere. We cannot do anything directly about them and must remain spectators of other people’s agony. During the COVID-19 pandemic, addictions to “doomsurfing” and “doomscrolling” soared. People obsessively monitored news of the pandemic by the hour. This led to sensations of fear, sadness and anger, and an increase in cases of depression and trauma. As with bad news generally, its appeal was said to be an evolutionary response to potential danger — humans crave a warning.
There must be a limit. It is one thing to be occasionally reminded of the suffering of others and of our own impotence when it comes to changing the world around us. I cannot see that relentless real-time depictions of horror is instilling any virtue. We — and our children — are expected to witness screaming, bleeding, angry people, night after night. This cannot increase public understanding of what is happening, only add to anger, discord and mental distress. I want to watch the news; what is being shown is something different.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist.
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry gives it a strategic advantage, but that advantage would be threatened as the US seeks to end Taiwan’s monopoly in the industry and as China grows more assertive, analysts said at a security dialogue last week. While the semiconductor industry is Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” its dominance has been seen by some in the US as “a monopoly,” South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University academic Kwon Seok-joon said at an event held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In addition, Taiwan lacks sufficient energy sources and is vulnerable to natural disasters and geopolitical threats from China, he said.
After reading the article by Hideki Nagayama [English version on same page] published in the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Wednesday, I decided to write this article in hopes of ever so slightly easing my depression. In August, I visited the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan, to attend a seminar. While there, I had the chance to look at the museum’s collections. I felt extreme annoyance at seeing that the museum had classified Taiwanese indigenous peoples as part of China’s ethnic minorities. I kept thinking about how I could make this known, but after returning
What value does the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hold in Taiwan? One might say that it is to defend — or at the very least, maintain — truly “blue” qualities. To be truly “blue” — without impurities, rejecting any “red” influence — is to uphold the ideology consistent with that on which the Republic of China (ROC) was established. The KMT would likely not object to this notion. However, if the current generation of KMT political elites do not understand what it means to be “blue” — or even light blue — their knowledge and bravery are far too lacking
Taipei’s population is estimated to drop below 2.5 million by the end of this month — the only city among the nation’s six special municipalities that has more people moving out than moving in this year. A city that is classified as a special municipality can have three deputy mayors if it has a population of more than 2.5 million people, Article 55 of the Local Government Act (地方制度法) states. To counter the capital’s shrinking population, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) held a cross-departmental population policy committee meeting on Wednesday last week to discuss possible solutions. According to Taipei City Government data, Taipei’s