Hey y’all, I’d like to preface this by saying that I know that this is as a very global community, and a lot of people on here aren’t in the United States, but a lot of people are too. I know that this isn’t a political forum, but I think what is going on right now is too important to not talk about.
I was scrolling through my instagram this morning, and it was a bit… jarring. I don’t need to get into what is going on in the US right now, you can go check your news outlet of choice for updates. Today has been designated by many as a social media blackout, and my instagram was filled entirely with black squares instead of pictures, and… keyboards? I follow a pretty wide variety of stuff on instagram, and keyboards seemed to be the only thing unaffected. I know that no one is required to do anything, but past some point being silent is being complicit. This week we’ve seen everyone from fashion icons to musicians to artists to politicians making statements, and it saddens me that I haven’t seen anything at all in the keyboard community. I’m not here to chastise anyone, and I’m not trying to point any fingers, but I’d like to leave a few links below of how we can make a meaningful contribution if you’ve got anything to spare (besides getting out and making your voice heard!).
I’ve seen a couple of things from keyboard-related people. But even though I am entirely behind the sentiment, at a certain point it starts to lose some of its meaning if everyone just “has” to do it. And I think some people are worried about being seen as jumping on the bandwagon. The posts from some corporations in particular have been kind of cringeworthy.
Even if they’re just jumping on the bandwagon, it’s better than not because they’re still acknowledging it at least. However cringey some interns writing is. Showing up is better than not.
I wouldn’t expect international companies to go black. There’s a lot of tragedy in the world. If every company goes black every time there’s a wrongful death in the world, they’d be blacked out 24/7 throughout the year.
I would expect local companies to, however. Not because I think any of them should be forced to, because that would make the whole thing meaningless. But because, I mean, htf would you not feel some sympathy for a man that got killed in broad daylight, in public by government employed servants? That’s madness.
Can you imagine this happening in the UK? I can’t. I can imagine this happening in HK though, or China, or maybe even Russia. But it’s not supposed to happen stateside. It feels surreal.
I was just thinking how nice it was to retreat into keyboards as an escape from politics when I saw this post and it seriously depressed me. I am more than concerned about the situation, I am downright angry with how things are in this country, but I appreciate having somewhere to retreat to when it is too much. But it is an important issue and dwarflemur is very well meaning and this forum probably won’t devolve into endless political debate like too many others.
That line of thinking is very, very close to “if you aren’t with us you are against us.” I don’t like it. While it is absolutely true that not caring or turning a blind eye is being complicit to whatever is happening, there is no denying that, the people who don’t care also don’t care that you think they are complicit. You can’t shame them into caring, they will only resent you for presenting yourself as their moral better and telling them how bad they are for not caring.
Furthermore, there is merit to humbly minding your own business and tending to yourself… Something that we’ve lost in the age of social media and projecting our moral values onto others everywhere.
You are only trying to do good, and I applaud you for it, just letting my own exhaustion with the state of the internet get to me.
Sorry man for giving you a little bit of a hard time. As a child of a mixed marriage the whole situation has been stressing me out. I know you are helping.
