Recently, news on Gaza is all over social media platforms. During Ramadhan, our timeline thread was filled with numerous newsflash, updating frequently on Palestine-Israel conflict. However, it did not end there, it prolong until the month of Syawal.
The struggle is miles away from Malaysia but how do we Malaysians help those people in Gaza fighting for their country and requesting humanitarian help from people from all walks of life?
Indeed, some Malaysians took the effort to go on the street, organize rallies to protest. But essentially, would that be sufficient to pressure people above to stop victimizing & intimidating people in Gaza strip? I must admit, there is definitely an impact and worth the effort. Keep the protesting moving and spread the word so that vigilant people around the world can become aware regarding the suffering of these innocent people.
Social media is another way to progress as a method to protest. We have seen thousands of pictures were sailing around and people tend to share information that they get from social media. But lately, I saw a battle of arguments in social media on how people should boycott things that is produced from companies like McDonalds, Starbucks & Coca Cola that are associated to Israel. Not only that, the argument has gone through to a space where people cannot use Facebook, Instagram & Twitter as it is own by Mark Zuckerberg, and apparently his family is contributing to Israel’s economic progress.
How do you see it?
There are many people who think that boycotting these companies have no effect and I actually agreed until I stumbled upon a story, where there once was a little bird who tried to save Prophet Ibrahim AS from burning into fire. The little bird saw what happened and decided to put out the fire. Even though the beak is small, the little bird effortlessly tried to put out the fire around Prophet Ibrahim AS. Larger birds asked the smaller bird,
"How could you put out that fire with such a small amount of water? It is pointless"
The smaller bird replied,
“ I am sure Allah will not asked me whether I manage to put out the fire or not, But Allah will ask what have I done to stop the fire”
From that story, I realized, whatever little contribution goes a long away. A little effort from us could help accrue exertion from others. Those who are on this movement, keep on going, but those who don’t, people shouldn’t criticize, but encourage them to join the effort. After all, everyone has the right choose what he or she believes in. One good illustration is to see the dispute among Malaysian at Sazzy Falak’s picture in Instagram.
And to those people who say things like “no point boycotting if you are still using Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I believe otherwise. I deem that there are two ways of seeing social media. Virtuous or ruthless. Perfect analogy on this would be, we know a knife can be either handy or harmful. We decide how to use it, knife can be very convenient in the kitchen but at the same time it could be used for violence. Thus, you decide ways to use your social media account. Spread the words, but spread wisely.
I look at this issue incline to humanitarian issues, nevertheless. I can see celebrities like Rihanna, Zayn Malik & Christiano Ronaldo are making use of their social media platforms to spread the message and support the cause. Do they protect people in Gaza because of its Muslim majority? Or perhaps, because they believe as humans, we need to support other human beings for world peace. Like Gandhi once said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world. – July 30, 2014.
Full article at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/be-the-change-you-wish-to-see-fadzmel-fadzil#sthash.feRj1bMK.dpuf
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