yikes

When I said it was birdseed she just went “oh- can they actually eat that? Is that safe?”

I didnt know how to respond like, at all, so I just pointed at the duck and said “bird”

And even if that issue doesn't affect you. Even if it's in an entirely different continent, and you don't know a single person from them - you're still allowed to go and learn about the issue and form an opinion.

This post is about issues you DON'T understand, that have NO direct affect on you and on people you know personally. Even if they potentially can affect you at some point.

But you, as an outsider to those issues, with no lived experience of it, should make sure:

You're getting your information from credible sources (TikTok is NEVER a credible source. If they link their source, read it in its entirety. This is the same for twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. You need to be careful about who you trust), and from unbiased sources, or at least not just from ones that are biased towards one side.

You're talking with people who are actually being impacted. Find someone (preferably IRL that is personally affected by, or has family and/or friends who are personally affected by those issues. Preferably more than one person, and not all on one side.

That your voice is not doing more harm than good. If you echo an opinion of someone else, even if it's someone you trust, and they echo someone else, who echoed someone else, you have no idea where that opinion actually came from. And all those people repeating opinions they heard by others, that do not bother doing their research on the issue, they're extremely vulnerable to propaganda.

That you're not treating your opinion as an immutable thing. You can always gain context that will change your mind, and you need to be able to open your mind to that. Always have a bit of doubt about your stance, and be open for new perspectives. Even if you will never end up changing your mind, even if your opinion goes down in history as the correct opinion to have and you were on the "good" side of history, be open to change your mind.

I want you all to read the post again, but notice these words:

Friendly reminder that you're not required to publicly take sides in any geopolitical conflict you don't understand.

You don't have to have an opinion, but you can have one. It doesn't have to be a public one, but you're still allowed to have it. It's about geopolitical conflicts, not about things directly affecting you. And it's about issues you don't understand, not ones you researched.

So the questions you need to ask yourself are:

Am I voicing this opinion because I feel pressured to, or did I make the decision to do so?

Do I feel confident enough in my opinion to voice it publicly?

Does it affect me or someone I know in any way?

Have I done the proper research to develop an informed opinion about the issue?

I saw you, people in the notes trying to shame others for wanting to stay out of conflicts. And even if they affect them personally and directly, a person is allowed to say "I don't have the mental capacity to engage with this and form an opinion". You don't know what a person is going through in their daily life, and not everyone has the spoons to deal with his.

And it's especially true for conflicts you have no stakes in. Is it important? Yeah, most conflicts are. And having outside support can be crucial. Are you, the person reading this post, solely responsible for every single geopolitical issue the world? No. The human brain is not meant to handle that much pressure and understand major scale catastrophes when they don't affect you.

Have the time? The mental capacity? Learn about this issue and see how you can help. But also ask yourself, why this one? Why not another? Am I being pressured by my peers to form an opinion? Do I know anyone who will be affected by this? How do I actually contribute to the cause? Are there any other causes I could contribute to more, for any reason?

You CANNOT care about every single cause in the world, even if you wanted to. You have a life to live, and other people don't get to live the life they want like you do, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve to live your life and that you have to sacrifice your mental health for them, donate all you have to them, etc. If you can't dedicate enough time to understand the issue, and research to make sure you're not spreading misinformation, don't do it.