Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice, Vol 4, Res 20: Gaza, Caring for Yourself, & Information Literacy
This is a public issue of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice. Feel free to share it!
Updated:
Hi friends! I had sent this newsletter out a day early because the information in this issue is urgent. I am now re-sending it because in the past 24 hours since I first wrote it, I’ve come across more resources that I really want to include. It will [hopefully] be the same link on my website to avoid confusion.
It is resource week and this newsletter has always been primarily about two things: caring and information literacy. But mostly caring and specifically, ways to care for ourselves and ways to care for each other. This week’s resources will then, as always, be about ways to care for ourselves and ways to care for each other.
If you want to know where I’m coming from, this Instagram post from mattxiv resonates with me in a lot of ways.
Before I get to resources I want to share a video I posted on Instagram, mainly for my BIPOC friends and followers, in response to the conflicting calls to “Unplug and care for yourself!” vs. “It is a privilege to step away and you must bear witness!”
Resources to Care for Others:
Actions to take from Jewish Voice for Peace, which also has items here bit.ly/stopfuelingviolence
Let Gaza Live: Ceasefire NOW via Action Network (Note: this took me 4 minutes to do. Fast and easy and important)
Standing Together is a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice. Join their call to release the Israeli hostages and donate to Standing Together (here is their IG)
List of upcoming protests & additional actions: via US Campaign for Palestinian Rights; also, here is their action toolkit which also includes some IG accounts to follow
Upcoming events to attend from IfNotNow
Donate: Medical Aid for Palestinians
Donate: Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
Donate: Anera
Donate: Doctors Without Borders (Note: This mentions the Israel-Gaza “war.” My understanding is that a war is between two militaries. Palestinians have no military. Genocide is not war.)
Bonus: Reading list I learned about via the most recent, beautifully-written Books & Bakes newsletter
Bonus: Free ebooks from Haymarket Books as well as their reading list
Resources to Care for Yourself:
How To Deal With Guilt And Anxiety When Your Homeland Is Under Attack via Huffpost
Greater Good Resources for Peace and Conflict via Greater Good Science Center
11 Tips for Protecting Yourself From Upsetting Images on Social Media by Andrea Lampros & Alexis Koenig, authors of Graphic: Trauma and Meaning in Our Online Lives (Bookshop | Amazon)
Resources for Information Literacy:
Wow, there is a lot of disinformation and misinformation going around right now. If you don’t know the difference, check out this primer from Dictionary.com. Here are some resources that can help you figure out legitimate news sources, with the caveat that we live under capitalism and a lot of news sources, especially in the U.S., often have money on their minds.
AP News Fact Check about current news specifically
Short video on recent disinformation via Vice
Two infographics from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) on spotting fake news: Original and Covid-19 Edition (text edition)
"Fake News," Lies and Propaganda: How to Sort Fact from Fiction via University of Michigan
Deepfakes 101: Deception in the Digital Age via Anti-Racism Daily (bonus: there is a link in this to an MIT interactive study that tests/teaches you on identifying deepfakes)
Journalism & Fake News via Los Angeles Public Library
Real News/Fake News via UC Berkeley Library (bonus: links to some fact-checkers)
Misinformation resources via Massachusetts Library System
Media Bias in a Conflict Zone via Anti-Racism Daily
Recent & Current Reads
As much as I would like to share what I’ve read recently and what I am currently reading, I do not want to detract from today’s resources. I’ll intend to revisit this in the next resource newsletter.
That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
If you want to send me some snail mail, you can find me at P.O. Box 21481, Oakland, CA 94620-1481.
You can find our podcast, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts.