**CONTENT WARNING** SeaHow to deal with horrific images

[lavenderdillydilly]

I just saw a video of a little girl in Gaza who was bombed with a white phosphorus containing bomb by Israel. The surface of her entire face was burnt off so that no features remained. There were no eyes, nose or mouth... it looked like brown crumbly mud. It is the most horrifying thing I've ever seen. There is a journalist called shaunking on Instagram and he is documenting what is going on in Gaza. It's all over social media. I can't avoid it and I can't sleep because it's so upsetting. I literally feel like I need therapy.

You've done the right thing.
The absolute horror of this war is unimaginable. Please don't ignore what's happening in Palestine. It's easily done if you just follow Western media.
This will affect us in time and appears to be transforming world order. I would never have believed the sheer cruelty of Western powers before this happened. And the utter powerlessness of organisations like the United Nations & Who. The very thin veneer of 'civilisation' has been totally stripped away.

This is also something that I feel really naive about..

I would have said that I felt safe in the knowledge that things like the UN exist to keep peace etc. But they really do seem powerless.

I think I would have said US and the UK were superpowers of the world but they're very loud about it. I now feel like actually, somehow, Israel is perhaps the most powerful but in a far more sophisticated and subtle way. The US and UK love being loud about their power but they're not very smart about it. Anyway, I am really astonished that the powerful people of the world are doing nothing to step in and rescue these poor people.

This!

I've seen similar videos and the amount of comments underneath celebrating the losses of innocent kids (or 'future terrorists', as they like to call them!) is truly disturbing.

This isn't a war we have no involvement in. Rishi-'we hope you win'-Sunak (and Starmer!) is actively supporting the bombing of hospitals/schools. The UK sells arms to Israel - parliament just a few days ago voted no to a ceasefire...yet people are too delicate to read the OPs description - she didn't post the video, she just wrote words.

Yes you should bring an apple tart to your neighbour and ignore a genocide that your government is supporting. What a mad post! Also, about not believing anything you see online - do you not believe that the incident with this poor child happened?

I follow what's happening because it's too important not to. However I don't follow certain graphic accounts because I can't cope with the horrendous videos and like the OP, I found myself very upset and unable to sleep. But some accounts either post censored videos or have warnings so that you can skip things that are too much.

People on Instagram repost things. Flicking through stories can make it very difficult not to accidentally happen upon something upsetting. A doctor I'm friends with who has ties to Palestine posts a lot of useful information on the conflict, screenshots of tweets and news reports and some videos, some of which are graphic and occasionally her posts are hard to watch. But I still follow her because most of it is very informative. But then bombing civilian populations is graphic and hard to stomach. Ignoring it is just copping out.

I agree with previous posters who said you should do what you can to help - write to your MP, attend marches, link in with or donate to charities who work in Gaza. I'm doing these things and though it feels like nothing sometimes it's better than other solutions you were offered on this thread around being nice to your neighbours or looking up cat videos.

Google crisis actors.

Oh for the love of God give it up.

Have you seen the video the op is referring to?

Are you seriously suggesting that child is a crisis actor? Honestly, your post is so offensive it's abhorrent.

Yet it seems OK to suggest Hamas never did half the things they did on 7 October. As videos weren't publicly released, the torture and murder never happened. If you're going to be outraged, be consistent.

Yet it seems OK to suggest Hamas never did half the things they did on 7 October. As videos weren't publicly released, the torture and murder never happened. If you're going to be outraged, be consistent.

You do realise posts on here aren't written by one person?

You can be 'outraged' at both 🙄

I'm not sure anyone thinks what Hamas did is ok. Especially the people who are upset about what is happening to babies and children. It could be a baby of the most evil person in the world and it still wouldn't be ok.

Glad we agree. It's really disturbing when a few posters hint about fake videos/news/who really killed the Nova festival goers. Its disrespectful to claim ANY deaths haven't taken place.

I think Hamas and Israel are as bad as each other. Such a sad world we live in.

That doesn't mean you can't just not watch them.

To the people saying don't look at the images and take steps to remove yourself, have any of you taken any steps to support the people being bombed?
Follow up question is, how are you staying informed with what is happening, as ive mentioned before I'm struggling with balancing looking at images and staying informed but if you have other sources that don't show the death and injuries I would like to use them too

You think the only way to stay informed is to look at graphic videos on social media?

For what's happening in gaza, yes, bbc/cnn etc have all stated that any footage they show of gaza has to be approved by the IDF. Therefore they no longer feel reputable sources to utilise.
Unfortunately, on social media I have yet to find an account that provides updates without showing some graphic imagery.

Again, if you have any sources that are showcasing what is happening in Gaza without the graphic imagery of death and injury, please share.

I'm doing what I can - donating to organisations who are providing non-partisan humanitarian aid.

I have written to my MP. Not that it's made a difference, they voted against a ceasefire.

I'm sorry but I don't feel that attending a protest has any likelihood of success. Same with signing another change petition.

I stay informed by consuming limited amounts of news from a variety of sources that I trust in that I trust them to be biased in different directions. I don't watch any footage - I have yet to hear anybody give me a compelling reason why I should. Reading threads on places like mumsnet can be helpful. I don't watch the news if I'm feeling low on resources- I recognise that I am in an incredibly lucky and privileged position to be able to decide this, but seeing as I am, I just don't see how depleting myself and subjecting myself to torture and death scenes that I have no influence over is going to help anyone or anything. I'm aware that there is a mass genocide happening right now. I've done what I realistically can do. I'm painfully aware that the war in Ukraine is still going on with almost all of our attention elsewhere. I have images from the footage of that that I watched and wished I didn't, still emblazoned in my brain. Did watching that change anything I did, or could do, compared with reading the headlines every other day or so? No.

You need education. Spend your time looking at both sides (not necessarily the gory bits).
When you read properly you will have an understanding that is not one sided.
And hopefully you will realise that ceasefire means Hamas will rearm. Kill all Jews and head the world to a caliphate.
That is why the Uk and US back no ceasefire.
Hamas use their people as human shields. They make no secret of this or their aim to kill all Jews.

@Grimchmas thank you, I agree the change petitions are useless. Fortunately, my MP backed a ceasefire, I doubt my letter swayed her to make that decision but she did say her inbox had been inundated with people asking for the same, so perhaps collectively we did.
I can understand your feelings towards the protests, I have attended them and I will again, maybe naive in my thinking but I'm hopeful that if we consistently show up it may make a difference. But, perhaps at the very least if theres a child in Gaza who comes across pictures of the marches and they feel even the smallest amount of relief to see that there are people calling for an end to the horror, then I'm glad that I showed up.

Would you mind sharing the sources you use?

On BBC news earlier there was footage of bloody body bags. I'm sorry that's not gory enough to satisfy you.

Why are you sorry?

Again, my concern with the BBC is that they have said themselves they can only broadcast what the IDF approve, therefore i do not feel they are a reputable source to utilise on what is happening in gaza.

I have asked numerous times now for sources that don't show the death and injury but still show what is happening over there (w/o IDF interference on the matieral being showcased) perhaps you can share one?

How does watching graphical content help?
There is an influx of images and videos which are from the general region, for example Syria, but being presented now as from Gaza. If you can't tell them apart, watching them doesn't make you better informed.

It is hard to know, harder than ever before. In reality it means being careful about sources, their reputation, understanding who published what, and how correct they were in the past.

Ask for not sharing/sharing as links only with content warning in your groups.

I'm sorry because it's sad that graphic videos on TikTok or wherever are the only place you get "news".

For what's happening in gaza, yes, bbc/cnn etc have all stated that any footage they show of gaza has to be approved by the IDF.

Do you have a link to the BBC's statement on this?

CONTENT WARNING SeaHow to deal with horrific images

Huge letters.

This was a warning.

Yes. It was added.