Some wars are better than others

I didnrsquot protest Russiarsquos invasion of Ukraine I wanted to because there was a lot of pressure on memdasha lot of celebrities tweeted their displeasure against Putinmdashbut the government of Indiarsquos refusal to say anything strengthened my resolve and allowed me to go about my business without commenting Yes men had been dragged to war while women and children were being murdered but itrsquos not as if the West didnrsquot send a whole lot of money in support of the underdogs How could my stand against the Russians matterWe jump to support conflicts too easily without trying to evaluate whether they deserve our attention Itrsquos why I look to the West at times like these basing my reactions on what they doTake Somalia for instance On February 19 hours before Putinrsquos military assault the United States hit Somalia with a drone attack It was the latest in their war against a nation that has been going on in some form or the other for over 15 years now I donrsquot know how many people were murdered in that attack because not too many celebrities mentioned it on Facebook but I assume there were casualties because whatrsquos an attack if no one diesIt doesnrsquot take a rocket scientist to figure out why the war in Ukraine managed to get much more attention than other serious conflicts that have been going on for a while and are still underway as I type this The Rohingya conflict in Myanmar has already claimed more than 200000 lives since 1948 with 2907 official fatalities this year alone Wars in Afghanistan have been on since the late 1970s with 394 people losing their lives there in 2022 so far The crisis in Yemen has claimed over 5000 lives there have been 380 deaths in the Tigray war and conflicts have been reported in Colombia Venezuela Tunisia Benin Chad Ivory Coast Uganda Ethiopia Nigeria Iraq Sudan Mexico Mali and Tanzania over the past 12 monthsThis is far from a comprehensive list given that it makes no mention of any events in our own backyard or conflicts that have been part of our collective history for decades So yes itrsquos easy to pinpoint a few reasons why Ukraine gets ammunition support a whole lot of funds and celebrities tweeting supportItrsquos important for us to toe the line when it comes to expressing the right kind of anger because perception is everything in our social mediadriven era If we tweet in support of a conflict it is important to make sure the right kind of people are raising their voices first I always look at what the only people who matter in India do or say Bollywood stars and cricketersIf they say something awful is happening in the world preferably far from our borders I feel confident enough to add my own name to an online campaign or two If they focus on promoting their movies while girls are being denied access to education for wearing a hijab then I abstain from voicing any displeasure This allows me to make sure I am saying and doing the smart thing Yes my conscience takes a beating but I take comfort from the fact that silencing onersquos conscience is the first step towards becoming a movie star in India Itrsquos why I look up to Akshay Kumar as much as I doUkraine will undoubtedly sort things out soon enough Presidents and Prime Ministers have stepped in to attack the Russians there are banks cutting them off economically and billionaires have been denied access to their homes savings and private jet landing strips So I donrsquot expect war to continue much longer Itrsquos interesting that these same steps could eliminate casualties in a few other countries too if these world leaders and banks were to replicate their actions but thatrsquos asking for too much given their busy schedulesI will spend the rest of this week drafting a carefully worded statement against the Russians for Facebook and asking a friend to click a photograph of me holding a placard with the flag of Ukraine If I have the time later this year I intend to also speak up against atrocities in other Western countries I would have considered speaking out about human rights abuses in India too if they were to take place but everyone knows thatrsquos just fiction I only concern myself with real conflict in countries far far awayWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereiraSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper