It’s been a grim year living through the era of the polycrisis (definition: the simultaneous occurrence of several catastrophic events all happening at the same time) and I’m feeling the pain, fear and anxiety ricocheting around the world. Unfortunately, when 2025 kicks off, we can expect more of the same, if not even more intensity, especially when it comes to extreme weather events. That’s the path we’re on now my friends, and we’re not even remotely addressing this at the level required.
In last week’s Reads, I discussed the planetary crisis in 2024, and in this, my last Weekend Reads for the year, I want to talk about the societal issues I’ve noticed, which are having a massive impact and creating further divisions. We MUST get a handle on this. Social cohesion needs to be a focus and priority moving forward, or we will be lost.
The first issue I want to talk about is gaslighting, and yes, this has always been a reality, but the masters are really mastering it now. A definition of gaslighting is to manipulate (someone) using psychological methods that forces them to question their own sanity or powers of reasoning.
Here’s how you can be gaslit: accusing you of going crazy, losing the plot or being mentally unstable. Criticising you – for example, your looks, your job or your abilities as a mother. Accusing you of being oversensitive, over-emotional, hysterical or neurotic (Ref) – sound familiar?
What I’ve noticed this year is a massive escalation of gaslighting and the whole world is the target. It’s both intellectually fascinating to observe and extremely alarming at the same time. The challenge is we can’t see it, and the attacks are coming thick and fast towards anyone fighting for fairness and decency. Our politicians use gaslighting to shape what entire societies believe today, with public opinion influenced by leaders that scorn data, evidence and even logic. Emotions rule baby.
Here’s a piece from 2022 talking about gaslighting and climate change: Green gaslighting: Another face of climate denialism | Climate Crisis | Al Jazeera.
And another – it’s an important term to understand, so we can “see it”: Global Gaslighting. Systems of Abuse in Structures of Power | by Susie Kahlich | Medium
A very illustrative example of gaslighting is when you are called woke, because yeah, being a decent human being is a bad thing. No doubt 2024 was the year of the war against woke and woke lost. When I hear the word (I hate it BTW) I hear an aggressive, patronising label given to decent human beings, who care for their neighbours and all life on this planet. So for me, it’s a tragic outcome of this year.
How do we fight it? Maybe we all agree to stop using the term and define our own phrase to define what being a great human really means? Or we turn it into a positive – perhaps being loud and proudly woke is the answer? Regardless, we need to continue to fight for human decency and respect for all life on this planet as a minimum expectation – no?
Musk is the greatest gaslighter of them all, and while there is MUCH that could be said about him this year, let’s focus on his fight for free speech. He’s consistently accusing the ‘left’ of trying to take it away, and yet the only person actively obstructing free speech is Musk himself. Try criticising him on X and see where that gets you.
Another sad aspect to 2024 was the war against DEI and guess what, we’re losing there too. Misogyny is on the rise, anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment too, racism, hate crimes, and we’ve witnessed othering at an epic scale too.
Guess what? Equality is good for EVERYONE and anyone fighting against it is fighting against all of us. You might be a white male who benefits from this (kind of) but ultimately you don’t, because no one wins when we don’t achieve true equality. GDP is higher in equal societies, businesses are more profitable and successful, people are happier and more content, and essentially, life is better for all.
Anyone fighting against equality is fighting against their own interests. No one wins, not even the psychopaths at the top.
Further reading
- 10 Reasons Why Equality Is Important | Human Rights Careers
- Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2024
- Researchers report stunning surge of misogyny after the election | PBS News
- Man pleads guilty to hate crime for “chilling” plans to carry out anti-gay mass shooting – LGBTQ Nation
- EU Islamophobia Report reveals widespread anti-Muslim racism across Europe – Shia Waves
- ‘Your body, my choice’ and other attacks on women surge on social media following election | CNN Business
This is one of those ‘photos of the year’. It went viral with everyone talking about the food on the table, but all I saw was one glaring detail – does this group of people represent you? Do they understand what your life is like and know how they can make it better? No, they do not. This is not representation. In fact, it is representative of the type of people who got our world into the mess we are in today. We don’t need more of it; we need much much less. Agree?
Another big issue that is finally starting to be talked about is the challenge with men and boys. This is a critical discussion to be having, and we need men stepping up as role models and mentors for young men. As Professor Scott Galloway says in this podcast – we have millions of men who are lacking economically and romantically. It is not good for any society to have so many unhappy and unsatisfied young men, so it’s a priority to be addressed, because it is a demographic easily weaponised, and it’s happening. Important listen Are men okay?–The Gray Area with Sean Illing – Apple Podcasts.
We must make sure the men are alright. Male youth are becoming more extreme and being influenced by those who are definitely not good role models. So, to all the good men out there – and you are the majority – please take this role on and help the boys grow into great men. Be a mentor, start a community group, get involved. Us ladies need to do it for girls too. Yes, we have many challenges, so it’s time to get to work.
Community is the answer! As we saw at Cop29 and through many of the geopolitical crisis’ we face around the world, we need to get focused on community. Coming together, doing the work, taking care of our neighbours, adapting for the climate we have coming at us, planting food, and building powerful social cohesion is the job of today. It’s time to rise and work together, because no one is coming to save us.
It’s time to get on the streets, get back on social media, be a voice in this fight, because right now, decency is losing. The moderate left sphere of influence is losing, and we need to connect to the moderate right and work together. The extreme left and extreme right are lost to us.
We must also focus on our communication platforms, and there’s much to be done there – e.g. social media is not our friend anymore. I don’t know if we can win it back, but in the meantime, let’s make sure our traditional media becomes strong and trusted again. It is critical to have trust in our media, because, frankly, Democracy depends on it.
I talked about the information war after the US Election back in November, another war we are losing badly. We need to recognize what’s going on and come out swinging. Investment needs to go into this too, because right now, only one ‘side’ is being funded, and that means we have no balance. We need balance.
Recent example: World’s oldest Sunday newspaper, the UK’s Observer, sold in face of journalistic opposition | AP News.
The attacks on left leaning media are relentless and there’s very few remaining (heck MSNBC is on the table), then again, if you believe politicians, it sounds like the left is the biggest voice on the planet – it’s not. Even if you don’t agree with left-leading media, if we don’t have balanced perspectives, none of us benefit. You can learn more about media bias here: Home | Ad Fontes Media.
What can you do? Pay for media you value and become a positive voice of influence in the world – even if it’s ugly being part of that world. We can’t be silent. We must speak up.
My friends, it’s time to move forward. We need to put a stop to cancel culture, and political correctness. It’s backfiring big time and has become ammunition for those who are not aligned to our way of thinking. We need to toughen up, build our resilience muscles, recognize the drastic times we’re in which require drastic measures and get involved. If we don’t step up, we can see where we are headed, and it’s not good for any of us.
Alrighty, just some thoughts on the year we’ve had. I know it’s been shit on an epic scale for so many of us, but we must rise to this moment. We all need to become the leaders the world needs right now.
As I said, I’m having a break from the Weekend Reads for a few weeks but check in on the knowledge page often, I’ll keep updating it daily.
I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating, Happy Holidays if you’re not, and let’s get ready to fight in 2025, because no one is coming to save us.
Oh wait, here’s a nice article (well cartoon) to finish with: Seriously did one single good thing happen in 2024? Yes! | First Dog on the Moon | The Guardian
Favorite visual/meme
Pertinent, no?
We’ve got to take this guy seriously. He is not our friend!
And my Person of the Year – truly incredible.
Dig into the news
Plenty more to read, listen to or watch, so do click through to the reads at the image below, and a reminder, this platform (elink.io) means the articles go back weeks, so have a scan and read/watch/listen to whatever jumps out at you.
Let me know what caught your attention? Or share with me what has your attention now? There’s a lot going on, which means none of us can cover everything. Besides, it’s always great to get feedback so I know I’m delivering something of value.
Cheers
Andrea
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