The "information problem" revisited

We hear about disgrace everyday. If you, like me, have chosen to follow the Facebook pages of  newspapers, you will on a daily basis be faced with terrible stories by scrolling down your endless timeline. Environmental disasters and the consequences of an inefficient policy to fight global warming, the exploitation of workers in southeast Asia or elsewhere in the underdeveloped world, the bad ending of pacifist demonstrations, race and gender based discrimination, cases of corruption and injustice in the justice system, the suffering of civilians in war zones, the degrading treatment given to refugees, hunger, the effects of pollution in China, India, everywhere, the raise of far-right movements in western democracies, terrorist attacks, genocides, the creation of concentration camps for gay men in Chechnya... Actually, even if you don't follow these pages, you might end up seeing some posts shared by your friends.
If you're not that connected, you might still hear about the main events on TV or read about them in the papers, but quite frankly, it is not the same as reading the headlines of these brutal news followed by thousand of comments of ignorant users like climate change deniers, chauvinists and openly racist users. Sometimes all of it together can ruin my mood and quite often it has gotten me into thinking: is humanity facing a really bad moment right now? Or have we always been this bad and now we finally have the chance to know it?
I tend to think the latest seems to be true, when I talk to my parents about the dictatorial past of our country. When the coup took place, none of them did anything and they continued this way, knowing very little, doing even less to resist or fight it until democracy was restored two decades later. Today, with democracy and the Internet my mother says it could never happen again. Well, I don't know. This text is the result of a realization I came to a few days ago.
It is true, information is empowering.
In the 60's, the Vietnam war was the first "living-room war" because for the first time, people were able not only to hear about the horrors of the war, but also to see it with their own eyes through their television set. The possibility of learning directly from a correspondant in Saigon about the civilian costs of the war contributed to the for the uprise of the anti-war movement. Politicians feared that public criticism would damage the credibility of the military campaign. This was called "the information problem".
When I first heard the word feminism, I mocked it. I thought it was stupid, but gaining information about the condition of women in our history and today and the impact of the women movements to come from A to B made me acknowledge the need of it. It made me see myself as a feminist. It gave me facts and numbers to fight prejudice and argue for equality without shame.
But information does not seem enough nowadays to make people give up their routine to mobilize and protest or for leaders to take actions. Quite the opposite, actually. I tend to think that the amount of information we receive is actually creating a mass of informed but nevertheless inert citizens, myself included. If not because we're gaing resistance to tragedies and becoming indifferent to it, because it's just so much, it makes us feel small and powerless against them. There's so much wrong, that I don't even know where to begin.
I'm not saying it is not essential that more people know about how the supply chain of Zara exploits workers in poor countries, in order to think twice about shopping there. But if when reading about the exploitation of the workforce in many countries people tend to think, 'well, it's widespread, what can I do anyway, I've got no choice but that', we have a problem. It is essential that more people know that not only polar bears are going to face the consequences of global warming, but all species, including us and the food we eat and also the small living beings that play an important role in the world balance and we don't even give that much attention to or even know about yet. But when people feel so overwhelmed about these facts that they believe there's nothing they can do to help preventing it, we also have a problem.
Because of course individual efforts alone won't be able to change the big picture, but it is the individual conscience that can pressure governments and make politicians and enterprises take the big actions. If we know about what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians for half a decade and say 'well, Israel is an ally of the US, we can't do anything about it', than no matter how much more sad events we hear about, we are not going to take action against it.
How can we takle this feeling of helplessness? There's no point in trying to solve all the world's problems alone, it's illusional and will only lead to frustration. On the other side, we should refrain from thinking there's nothing we can do. Once Margaret Mead stated: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
I believe Mead is right. We should pick our cause, find our small group of thoughtful and committed citizens and start doing our part in changing the world. Yes, maybe some problems will take more than a lifetime to be solved. But instead of thinking "well, facing life is pretty hard itself, maybe it's best to make the best of living than", take in account that you are not alone and that after you, other people might continue your small group's legacy. That is, if you were brave enough to begin it.