A World in Chaos – what should humanists do?
It was back in March that we decided to form Humankind, in response to the attacks on humanist values around the world.
Two months later we got together in the immediate aftermath of the US bombing of Iran, so it was impossible to ignore the obvious question with which Bill kicked off – “If you do anything at all, what are you hoping to achieve?”
Dawn said, “I find it very frustrating that one man appears to be controlling the (wrong) direction the world is going in. A man incapable and unwilling it seems to find diplomatic solutions. And no-one wants to stop the bullying. What can we do? What can I do? I see kind loving people all around the world yet hatred ‘rules’. How can we persuade our leaders to stand up for our values?”
Richard said, “I guess individual influence is so minuscule, but actually it is, and it isn’t. It comes down to your influence on the people whose lives you touch, and the choices you make.
It’s about communicating the values, spreading the word, and through your actions, perhaps inspiring someone else to boycott, to have a conversation. It’s important not to accept that as individuals we have very little agency. The one thing we can do is have conversations and try to influence the people we talk to.”
Tim agreed, saying “that’s pretty much what Gandhi said when he advocated peaceful resistance – we have to be the change we want to see in the world,” (although AI now tells me those aren’t precisely the words he used…)
Ellie said, “I agree that in times of seismic political events, you can feel impotent – especially with the despots currently in charge, and the truth is we are pretty impotent – as individuals, at any rate. But as Richard (and Gandhi) say, it is about the connections you make as an individual; being the change.”
“Yes, maybe, one conversation at a time. But most of us live in echo chambers, possibly even more so in the digital age, so maybe it’s about continuing to express solidarity, in every way possible, with those suffering at the hands of Trump, Netanyahu, Putin – even when it seems hopeless – and probably not on social media, because it’s the biggest echo chamber of all.”
And while, it’s good to ‘be the change’ I like collective action over individual action; i.e. organising or attending a benefit gig to raise money for medical supplies over an individual boycott of Israeli goods. At risk of sounding glib, it’s like recycling. Crushing one milk carton changes nothing, but recycling the whole community’s cartons might (as long as they don’t go in landfill anyway).”
We reflected on the failure of historical protests, such as the one against the Iraq War, and the challenges of mass protest in the digital age, but as Ellie said, “I still believe in shouting too. Protests might seem pointless, but all revolutions start with gatherings…”
We also discussed the fragmentation of attention due to multiple communication channels and the erosion of trust in news sources.
Susie remembered how when she was growing up, her family sat down to watch the news together and read the paper every morning, but as she said, there are now so many competing sources of information it’s hard to know who to trust.
Ellie said, “My area of interest is mis/disinformation, so I’d also stress the importance of continuing to raise consciousness, our own first, although as Susie said, this is complicated in the multi-platform and disinformation age. I’m sure others have noticed how the only eyewitness accounts coming from Gaza in recent weeks have been from humanitarian workers. You really have to piece it together now.”
Sharon said she feels that none of the leaders of the world are being honest or truthful with us, and that’s worrying, because it undermines people’s faith and trust in the democratic process.
Richard drew our attention to a podcast called ‘The Third Information Crisis’ in which Naomi Alderman asks what we can learn from the past to help us cope with the enormous wave of information and disinformation we face today from the internet and social media.
We debated the effectiveness of boycotts and non-engagement, noting limited individual influence, but we also remembered the surprising effectiveness of lone individuals like Greta Thunberg and her school gate protests that led to much greater awareness of the Climate Crisis. Again, Ellie said, “Greta is a great example of how people/ideas can become lightning rods.”
In conclusion, we agreed with Barack Obama that ‘despair is not an option’ and that conversations like this are a good first step towards creating positive change.
PS We want to say a particular thanks to Ellie who put together these impressive Mis and disinformation resources…
How to survive the broligarchy: Carole Cadwalladr remains peerless in UK investigative journalism, especially the ways social media is manipulating our views and traditional media is failing us.
Stop Hate UK is a leading national organisation working to challenge all forms of Hate Crime and discrimination, based on any aspect of an individual’s identity:
Snopes, the original fact-checking & investigative journalism site – (be warned, not all stories will match your biases!)
The BBC’s dedicated fact-checking service is another good resource – however you you feel about Auntie these days – as are BBC Monitoring and Channel 4’s fact-checking service.
Closer to home, there’s The Ferret, Scotland’s non-partisan investigative journalism and fact-checking platform and finally check out CaptainFact which is an open source, collaborative fact-checking service for YouTube videos, and Bellingcat the famous independent investigative collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists.
Suggested listening
“The Third Information Crisis” by Naomi Alderman
Suggested reading
A Short History of Truth, by Julian Baggini, in which the philosopher explores different perspectives on truth, emphasising that there is no single, universally accepted definition and that understanding its various forms is crucial. He argues that while absolute certainty about truth is elusive, it’s still a valuable concept to pursue and defend, especially in an age often labeled as “post-truth”.
We’re hoping to organise another meeting soon to talk about that, and the working title will be ““Truth in the Age of Truth Social”. If you’d like to be part of it, you know what to do… Join Humankind
