Since the start of the Ukraine War Westerners have started their own war of words putting themselves in the spotlight.
Does our virtue signalling know any bounds?
I live in Italy.
Unlike my grandmothers I have only known Democracy and Peace.
The same can't be said about those who live in Sudan, Iran, Ukraine, Israel and Gaza (and many others who live in many other troubled countries).
As the Ukraine War started I've realized that Italians (on Twitter now X, Instagram and Tiktok I could see that the same was happening in the rest of Europe and the United States) had started to fight as well: they had begun a war of words.
It didn't matter if they were politicians, journalists, tv hosts, ambassadors or common people: everyone had their own view about the war, about who was right and who was winning and they were all pretty vocal about it.
Every day the same professors, journalists and politicians would have endless talks about Ukraine on tv, often making a fool of themselves; a statement about Hitler never wanting war was made.
The more these 'experts' would spend debating on tv, the less they seemed to care about Ukraine and Russian people.
It reminded me of Masterchef, where the point is not the food, but the show, the fights.
Masterchef judges are not just chefs anymore, they have become celebrities.
That panel represented pure and simple infoitainment.
On Twitter, now X, Westerners had started a parallel war.
Two parties of digitals warriors had been founded, each with their enemies and allies.
By the way, the same had happened with the Covid-19 vaccine.
Personal attacks and death threats were a daily thing: people were mimicking the real war, with themselves as soldiers.
The only difference from real soldiers was that they were writing from their warm houses, with hot food and friendly faces, to quote a famous poem by Primo Levi (Italian writer ans Auschwitz survivor).
Now after the vax and Ukraine another hot, altough not new, topic has come around: Israel, Gaza and Hamas.
The pattern is the same: panels, no fact-checking, digital warriors, silly statements, death threats, personal attacks.
I've come to realize that we Westerners are making all of this about themselves.
We may believe we are advocating for Democracy/the oppressed/victims/innocents: it's virtue signalling all along, we are playing the role of the saviour and we are enjoying it.
We are not the point.
Israeli hostages, civilians in Gaza and all the innocents going through dark times only because they were born and raised there are.
I am not saying that we shouldn't raise our voice or give our help: I am saying that our voice needs to be wise, not providing pre-packaged answers.
We need to remove ourselves from the spotlight.
As Karl Kraus said: 'Having something to say means stepping forward and beig silent!'
Silence, if used to think on how we should talk and what we are going to say, can be a powerful force.
People in Israel and Gaza need our voice as much as our silence.