Anarchy in the U.K.raine
As Russia moves on Ukraine, virtue signallers take up arms... on instagram
If you’re reading this, then you’re connected enough with the world to have heard about the situation in Ukraine. And if you’ve got the misfortune to be connected enough to have a twitter account like I do, you’ll know that all the epistemologists that were kicking about for the last two years are actually polymaths! Who knew so many people knew so much about viral loads, PPE, as well as the idiosyncrasies of the geo-political landscape of Eastern Europe. What a knowledgable bunch.
Of course, I jest. These people aren’t weirdly niche polymaths - the Venn diagram of those two interests a year ago were likely only fans of the board game Risk and the online game Plague Inc. Of course, as new news stories emerge, so too does the hive minds opinions. In turn this leads to virtue-signalling lay persons and grifting social media talking heads to take those opinions for their own. Mr Dunning and Mr Kruger will be spinning in their sloped graves of despair. This new common movement of hearing something on the news, or worse, picking it up out context and nuance free from the twitter feed, then parroting it off as one’s own opinion.
Of course this kayfabe charade where we all posture as experts on todays topic du jour, continues on Instagram. People posting virtue laden re-posts of their favourite newssites take on the topic, showing nothing more than that they want everyone to see what a GoodPerson they are. It’s a signalling charade, that doesn’t actually convey that much. Today’s conflict in Ukraine, as heartbreaking as it is, doesn’t have much debate around it. There’s no in-group signalling required - even your annoying cousin isn’t posting pro-Russian stories. And yet people still do it. As if the repost of ‘MillenialPostings’ instagram telling Ukrainian citizens to stay safe makes you a good person. Putin isn’t pulling out of Kiev because Mary from South Shields added #NoToWar on her instagram.
The fact is, it’s unlikely you actually care about Ukraine. If you’ll bare with me before your natural defensive instincts kick in - i’ll explain why thats ok and you can go back to doom scrolling the news and not really understanding why Russia is doing this. The thing is, we can only care about so much. It’s true. The internet has brought the world to your street and with it - their overflowing bins and dog that shits in your garden. Downstream of all this means we are constantly bombarded with atrocities day over day. Dunbar’s number exists for a reason, it’s not possible or healthy to get worked up or frenzied about everything. Not to make light of them, but we’re not built to care (and I mean honestly care not just say you do, or use some pro-palestine filter on a selfie) about what’s going on everywhere from Yemen to Peru.
What’s going in Ukraine is tragic, war is brutal and harsh. But pretending you care when you don’t is as disingenuous as it is pointless. It’s ok to not care about things you don’t understand happening between countries who’s names you wouldn’t even get if they were a Wordle answer2 and who you couldn’t point to on a map. And that’s not to mention those who use these things to politically point score or try and show how they totally knew this was coming.
That’s about as bad as using it as a basis for their weekly column. Oops.
Title to be read to the tune of the Sex Pistols ‘Anarchy in the UK’
Before the ‘Well actually’ crowd get here - I know wordle answers are five letters and Ukraine has seven. I know.