Refusing to put French flag overlay on Facebook?

[InTheBox]

I did add the French flag overlay on my FB but many of my friends didn't do so, not because they condone the shootings but due to FB's choosing of the seemingly deserving west and underserving others. Many of my friends queried why there hadn't been a Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi or Palestinian flag filter.

I can't say I disagree but I admit I hadn't considered this until their posts came up on my feed. Did you choose to change your profile to include the French filter or did you decide against it?

I'm now going to change my profile pic back to normal because in the main I disagree with FB's double standards.

I'm not sure what you're really asking op? Do you doubt yourself?

I changed mine, i dont care what people think.

I dont know you, I dont care if you changed yours or not.

With regards to 'ohh its all about France" etc, well yeah, I am more affected when my neighbour is hurt, doesnt mean i think any less of bad things happening elsewhere in the world

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents,_2015

Yes it is total shit, and no putting a flag up for France does not mean i dont care about other places people

We are bang in the middle of an Orwellian Hate Week.

To me, flags, bolstering nationalities, etc., are part of the problem.

There are a lot of people, all around the globe, who have died. It is terribly sad. Let's not let that turn into a vengeful, unthinking taking on of enemies and allies. We can't change the fact that some very sad, horrible things have happened. What we can do is try not to feed the system which will cause many, many more lost lives if our governments get their way.

I did not either. Its not helping anybody.

I would have. But im not on FB . I'd love to have shown support and solidarity. Very pleased my teens did.

People stating it's not helping anyone, I'm not sure I agree. If i'd lost someone in the attacks I might take some comfort from the show of unity and support. I should imagine that it could help the healing process to know that people care but may lack the ability to find the right words of comfort.

Isn't this just self-involved angst? "This act of terrorism is all about ME ME ME and my reaction to it."

Jw35 No I don't doubt myself. As has been pointed out repeatedly on the thread it is perfectly fine for one to do as they wish with their FB.

There was no real AIBU LagunaBubbles I asked as it's a current news topic and something I've been reading about over the past few days. If we were to take the attitude of 'well what's the issue, it's your life.' There'd be no MN.

ThroughThickAndThin01 Are your teens on MN?

Anothereffing

There was some interesting comment in the Evening Standard last night.

www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/ed-west-comforts-of-the-west-have-let-radicalism-grow-a3117351.html

Everyone is quick to point out that seeing groups as other is a real pitfall and that is undoubtedly true. But it is not as simple as that. When you stop caring about your neighbours, when no person matters more to you than another, when you aren't sure what your identity is, it's easy to slip into a sort of nihilism that is dangerous too.

Yep, it was the people who took great pains to explain why they weren't changing it that pissed me off most. Practically falling off their high horses they were. Same people mostly then shared the BBC article about the Kenyan university massacre as 'evidence' thereby making themselves look like utter dickwads. Slow hand clap.

I didn't because I worried about how/when would be a suitable time to change it back without implying that the event was over and everything was back to normal #overthinker

Like yakari my DH is French, kids half-French. I overlayed my pic for a week, when it will automatically fall off, apparently.

I think it's natural to be more interested in a place which is nearer to the UK, somewhere we're more likely to have been, somewhere where more of us are likely to have friends and family.

This doesn't mean I am not concerned about all other countries which are under attack, at war. It raises awareness for all countries.

I didn't. Loads of reasons why which several people have touched on but main one for me, was seeing profile pictures of people laughing and flag behind it. i certainly wouldnt judge anyone who did or didnt as its personal choice if you do or dont. I instead changed mine to an image of Paris and have noticed a few of my friends have done that to. Thoughts with all those effected by the recent events x

God I hope not OP. And doubt it because for example:

Me: DC's did you know
DTeens: where did you read that? Mumsnet? Snort, snigger.

I'm not on FB.

Did your friends ask FB for a Lebanese flag or just complain about lack of one? If enough people ask for one I'd have thought they'd look into it?

Kind of see where people are coming from though, but most standard photo apps let you make a double layered photo so if I was on FB and wanted to show my condolonsances I'd make my own overlayed pic. Would take minutes.

Also would have the advantage of raising awareness if people asked you why you photo has whatever flag over it.

I did. I don't usually do FB stuff much at all, but my mum is Parisian and Paris has been a second home for me since early childhood....I have family there, I had an emotional response that needed me to take a positive action to counteract the visceral urge to hide. Silly, but true - it helped me.

I care a lot about the crap going on everywhere else. I've invested time, energy, money in various efforts to help. But as I'm human I'm more likely to have an intense emotional reaction to something that affects me personally - doesn't take away the rest. And I wouldn't dream of judging what people want to do with their Facebook profiles

And even if photo apps are complicated, saving a Lebanese flag from google image search to your device and then using as profile pic would show thoughts are with them too.

I changed my profile picture to have the French flag overlay for a number of personal reasons.

To me France is part of our community - the wider community that is Europe. They are our neighbour and for me it was a very small way to show respect - similar to the way in Ireland when a neighbour dies everyone keeps curtains and blinds closed until after the funeral. Some would say it's pointless however it is a small gesture. I also wear a poppy - that 'doesn't change anything' however when I see so many people walking around wearing poppies it brings me comfort to think that so many people respect our fallen and often forgotten heroes.

The company I work for has operations in France, it was a small way for me to show solidarity to my French colleagues and it also made me feel for some very weird reason United when I saw the majority of my colleagues do the same.

I'm going to be honest though I wouldn't change my pic to Iraq or some of those other countries not because I don't care but because I have a strong emotional connection to France.

It wouldn't occur to me to change my FB picture for that.

I didnt. I have friends in turkey and pakistan, the idea of them seeing it when they have spoken about their own countries troubles seemed tasteless. 'Luckily' my picture was already paris-based anyway.

I didn't either. It seems a bit of a facile response to a complex situation. And I'm also a bit troubled by how we can all think of ourselves as good, compassionate people by ticking a few social media boxes; Tricolor filter on the profile picture, sharing a few petitions and a video of a small boy being interviewed about bad guys and flowers etc. I'm not saying it's better to do nothing, but I think sometimes these small acts can make us think we've done our bit, and stop there.

But I find the whole thing immensely depressing and overwhelming so I'm not sure what is best to do really. Just saying that if you don't put a filter on your profile picture it doesn't mean you don't give a shit.

I did it. And I'm a Guardian reader!

I did it to show my support to the innocent victims of the Paris attack - it was nothing to do with showing my support or otherwise for French foreign policy. It also doesn't mean that I don't feel compassion for the victims of any other violence around the world. I think it is true that atrocities closer to home often resonate with people more easily, this is probably what happened with me. I simply don't think this particular social media activity justifies this level of analysis.

To be honest I think there are more urgent Facebook related issues to worry about, such as the seeming epidemic of stealth boasting and the over sexualised images of young people for example.

Oh and that is not to say that i didnt care. I'm one of many many people who have already seen EODM this year, which makes it seem much closer to me than another random attack.