Advice for coping with notifications from Palestinian genocide victims
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Advice for coping with notifications from Palestinian genocide victims
I understand that life during genocide is unimaginably horrible and I’m ashamed to say that I intentionally limit some of their pleas for help … even more that I make these filters public, which might hurt genocide victims when folks less empathetic than me begin to use filters to hide their cries for help completely rather than just making them easier to handle.
But Mastodon notifications are completely flooded and overwhelming if you’re not a jerk who blocks all Palestinians and mutes all related tags.
I’d much rather that you find ways to make the flood of notifications manageable while you still interact with genocide victims, instead of leaving them alone in their need to protect yourself.
I have two filters.
The first one affects only my notifications but not my timelines. I get mentioned so often by genocide victims that non-genocide related notifications completely drown within that flood. For my mental health, I need some activities besides working a day job and helping genocide victims. In my timelines I read all their pleas for donations and hide nothing, but in my notifications tab I want to be able to expand them on opt-in basis so that I can still skim that tab for other notifications.
The other need for a filter is that there’s lots of images of injured or dead people both in my notifications tab and in my timelines, and none of them have a content warning. The unempathetic approach would be to just block all genocide victims. I don’t want to do that. That would be akin to looking the other way while the SS murders your Jewish neighbors. I have empathy. I want to see their cries for help, all of them. I want to donate to them and answer their pleas. I just don’t want to be hit with images of skin diseases and amputated legs in my lunch break. I want control over when I see such images.
Oh, and besides filters I also use lists. A lot. I use a list dedicated for genocide victims. A toggle hides them from my Home timeline. That enables me to follow every member of #GazaVerified and keep different contexts separate. You don’t need to mute any Palestinian when you can see them on your own terms.
I hope no Palestinian judges me for this.
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Advice for coping with notifications from Palestinian genocide victims
I understand that life during genocide is unimaginably horrible and I’m ashamed to say that I intentionally limit some of their pleas for help … even more that I make these filters public, which might hurt genocide victims when folks less empathetic than me begin to use filters to hide their cries for help completely rather than just making them easier to handle.
But Mastodon notifications are completely flooded and overwhelming if you’re not a jerk who blocks all Palestinians and mutes all related tags.
I’d much rather that you find ways to make the flood of notifications manageable while you still interact with genocide victims, instead of leaving them alone in their need to protect yourself.
I have two filters.
The first one affects only my notifications but not my timelines. I get mentioned so often by genocide victims that non-genocide related notifications completely drown within that flood. For my mental health, I need some activities besides working a day job and helping genocide victims. In my timelines I read all their pleas for donations and hide nothing, but in my notifications tab I want to be able to expand them on opt-in basis so that I can still skim that tab for other notifications.
The other need for a filter is that there’s lots of images of injured or dead people both in my notifications tab and in my timelines, and none of them have a content warning. The unempathetic approach would be to just block all genocide victims. I don’t want to do that. That would be akin to looking the other way while the SS murders your Jewish neighbors. I have empathy. I want to see their cries for help, all of them. I want to donate to them and answer their pleas. I just don’t want to be hit with images of skin diseases and amputated legs in my lunch break. I want control over when I see such images.
Oh, and besides filters I also use lists. A lot. I use a list dedicated for genocide victims. A toggle hides them from my Home timeline. That enables me to follow every member of #GazaVerified and keep different contexts separate. You don’t need to mute any Palestinian when you can see them on your own terms.
I hope no Palestinian judges me for this.
You find the page for configuring filters by adjusting this URL to your server instance:
https://mastodon.social/filtersTo hide list members from Home, adjust this URL to your server instance, then right-click on the three dots next to your specific list and click "Edit list":
https://mastodon.social/lists
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Advice for coping with notifications from Palestinian genocide victims
I understand that life during genocide is unimaginably horrible and I’m ashamed to say that I intentionally limit some of their pleas for help … even more that I make these filters public, which might hurt genocide victims when folks less empathetic than me begin to use filters to hide their cries for help completely rather than just making them easier to handle.
But Mastodon notifications are completely flooded and overwhelming if you’re not a jerk who blocks all Palestinians and mutes all related tags.
I’d much rather that you find ways to make the flood of notifications manageable while you still interact with genocide victims, instead of leaving them alone in their need to protect yourself.
I have two filters.
The first one affects only my notifications but not my timelines. I get mentioned so often by genocide victims that non-genocide related notifications completely drown within that flood. For my mental health, I need some activities besides working a day job and helping genocide victims. In my timelines I read all their pleas for donations and hide nothing, but in my notifications tab I want to be able to expand them on opt-in basis so that I can still skim that tab for other notifications.
The other need for a filter is that there’s lots of images of injured or dead people both in my notifications tab and in my timelines, and none of them have a content warning. The unempathetic approach would be to just block all genocide victims. I don’t want to do that. That would be akin to looking the other way while the SS murders your Jewish neighbors. I have empathy. I want to see their cries for help, all of them. I want to donate to them and answer their pleas. I just don’t want to be hit with images of skin diseases and amputated legs in my lunch break. I want control over when I see such images.
Oh, and besides filters I also use lists. A lot. I use a list dedicated for genocide victims. A toggle hides them from my Home timeline. That enables me to follow every member of #GazaVerified and keep different contexts separate. You don’t need to mute any Palestinian when you can see them on your own terms.
I hope no Palestinian judges me for this.
@davidculley The best way to avoid mentioning you or others is to donate to all those documented in Gaza each week, ensuring that $200 reaches each person. This is sufficient, and we won't need to mention anyone in posts to get their attention.
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@davidculley The best way to avoid mentioning you or others is to donate to all those documented in Gaza each week, ensuring that $200 reaches each person. This is sufficient, and we won't need to mention anyone in posts to get their attention.
@anghamrlkhalil I agree. You wouldn't ask for help if you had what you need for a life in dignity.
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@anghamrlkhalil I agree. You wouldn't ask for help if you had what you need for a life in dignity.
@davidculley That's right, this is the right solution. I don't receive many donations, so I try to mention specific names to draw attention... and I hope my words are applied fairly to everyone... Today I saw the same person with more than one link; he received $250 on all three links. This is unfair; everyone is in need. I don't look at anyone else; I wish good for others and for myself as well. My children need a lot.
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@davidculley That's right, this is the right solution. I don't receive many donations, so I try to mention specific names to draw attention... and I hope my words are applied fairly to everyone... Today I saw the same person with more than one link; he received $250 on all three links. This is unfair; everyone is in need. I don't look at anyone else; I wish good for others and for myself as well. My children need a lot.
@anghamrlkhalil Yes, it's against the rules of #GazaVerified to have more than one account. Palestinians agreed to this rule when they were verified and I remind them of their promise when I see they violate the rules.
The fairest way for donating is to check out https://gaza-verified.org/donate
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@anghamrlkhalil Yes, it's against the rules of #GazaVerified to have more than one account. Palestinians agreed to this rule when they were verified and I remind them of their promise when I see they violate the rules.
The fairest way for donating is to check out https://gaza-verified.org/donate
@davidculley Finally, I wish everyone, including myself, the best, and thank you for your understanding. I'm saying this because I desperately need to pay my rent. My father kicked me out of his house and I'm homeless. When I see people receiving $1900 every week while I have nothing, and even if they donate... even a little, I lose my temper. My children are suffering a lot I need a donor to help me pay the rent; I can't afford it myself.
