Good morning! If you’re new, my name is Jeremy. My wife Jessica and I moved to Iraq 15+ years ago at the height of the war. Today, our humanitarian work across 10+ countries has been covered by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Al Jazeera, etc.

I help peacemakers like you 10X their impact around the world through a social impact collective called HUMANITE.

I write for those who still have hope.

Jeremy Courtney
Cofounder
HUMANITE

FIELD NOTES

Lost at sea…

Did you see the story this week about that group lost at sea?

Not the “billionaire submarine” that went missing while looking for the Titanic. That story was hard to miss.

I’m talking about the 750-some refugees whose boat sunk off the coast of Greece.

News has hit social media and some TV over the last day or so… but the tragedy occurred over a week ago.

The backlash

Predictably, backlash has ensued over the disproportionate concern for billionaires in search of adventure compared to the refugees in search of a better life.

But I’m not interested in stoking those fires today.

I’m certainly a long-time advocate for (and seek to be a servant of) the rights and well-being of refugees. But all this handwringing and pearl-clutching on social media is little more than a performance.

Most people scream and yell, then they go and make a sandwich. An hour later, they’re screaming and yelling about something new, having done nothing about the first thing. It’s theater.

Accepting the news for what it is

Are there “more important things” in the world than a private submarine? Sure. But it’s interesting. It’s ongoing. And that makes it entertainment. Also, there was a chance that it would be found, which would have come with weeks of additional interviews, coverage, and backstories of the heroes who saved the day. As business decisions go, covering the sub made a ton of sense.

And the sooner we come to understand and accept the news for what it is, instead of what we’d (ostensibly) like it to be, the sooner we can move on from our pointless displays of outrage and get busy with the real work of making more peace.

Outrage doesn’t matter

Those who are deeply invested in refugee work knew about the migrant fishing boat disaster when it happened. We found out from local and regional media; watchdog and activist groups; newsletters we subscribe to; and people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Italy, and Greece that we know in real life or follow on social media.

That is to say: it was covered. We didn’t need CNN to program wall-to-wall coverage to care. And we didn’t need public outrage to inform our next steps.

We were already tracking the rising food costs and the loss of human rights—especially women’s rights—in Afghanistan.

We were already talking to Pakistanis devasted by last year’s floods and today’s inflation, creating the worst economic situation in decades.

And we were already helping Syrians who were wiped out by the earthquake, just as they were beginning to rebuild after a decade of war.

Of course, if you are among those who were already invested in this work, you will just keep going. You will keep showing up. You will continue to educate yourself and invite others in. You will continue to give and work on public policy. And, in the grand scheme of things, it won’t really matter that much that these communities you care for each day aren’t getting a larger share of the spotlight. We understand that’s just the way it is.

But for those who didn’t know about the refugee/migrant ship and still choose the performance of public outrage, I would simply ask, why?

Why didn’t you know?

Why did you need your favorite (or most hated) news outlet to validate the story?

Why isn’t your newsfeed curated differently?

And why denounce the media for the thing that you also haven’t chosen to major in?

Everything, everywhere, all at once

The fact is, we cannot care equally about everything, everywhere, all at once. And we are driving up our stress hormones and driving down our outrage thresholds the more we pretend that we can (and do).

So, in case it will be helpful for someone to hear this: you can be a good person and not have your life wrapped up in the issues of any one or any number of important things going on in the world, including in your community.

Not every tragedy is an evening news story. And not every evening news story is a 1-2 week melodrama. And not everyone’s passion has to match the activists’ to genuinely pass the “bigot” test.

It is not news that people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Ukraine, and beyond are suffering tremendously.

There are real ways to help. But it’s going to cost us more than a few tweets.

Jeremy Courtney
Cofounder
HUMANITE

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PS — Here’s one thing I know for sure that I’ve been thinking about this week: I’m honored to be in this work with you. Thank you for making it possible for us to be on the ground trying to prevent these tragedies before they start. Let’s make more peace…