Being Hopeful in these Tough Times is not Ignorance
I've been on Twitter since the early days and I was part of the "Tumblr to Twitter migration" in around 2017-2018. Since then and onwards, more and more people especially in my own country started using twitter not to post art, but also share their arguments.
And it's even more apparent in these days, not just on Twitter but Instagram, or any social platform.
There is always this idea being thrown around, of "If you are not hopeless, angry, or mad enough about what is around us, then you are ignorant. So speak up on your social platform, if not you are also ignorant" To be honest I used to be convinced on the idea, and thus I was often quite upfront about my opinions. However as time goes on, I have a more updated idea that fits to me:
Despite what is happening around the world, you can always still be aware of that fact, but still hopeful for the people who will eventually fight for their rights and better future
This realization happened when I watched one of Struthless' video about "Alive Internet Theory" and he mentioned of how being Hopeful is Punk.
I'd also like to bring up another point: not everyone has or use every social media platform. For example, parents do not have Twitter account, and I do not use TikTok account. Even my Grandma does not have and use any social media account that I recall. She instead loved to buy some recipe book to experiment!
Another point to bring up is that, I come from Chinese descent family where not everyone in extended family can read Indonesian well, and some speak basic spoken Indonesian language. They are only aware of what is happening by just information from family who speak Chinese dialect.
So I feel the saying of "how people are not using social platform to speak up and not show how much they are mad about what is happening" is quite oversimplified. If anything, it will make people more enraged even more I feel.
This is something that I've been doing with my cousin as well where she or I would invite an opinion and I would also practice non-judgemental way of expressing how I feel and basically state that I am not shaming anyone. Honestly, being with my cousin gave me hope that we can go through this together.
Being hopeful, is not a sign of ignorant about what is happening in the world.
Being hopeful is a sign of care of people around me, that I believe those people will do the same to the others and it will spread around throughout the larger community. Because sometimes, making someone's day through small act can lead to a better future too.
Not sure what kind of better future exactly, I am just sure of it.
Thank you for reading more spontaneous blog post and I hope you had a great day ahead!