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White House Joins Reddit, Shares Hurricane Updates

- The **Biden-Harris administration** has launched a **White House account on Reddit** to share information about federal government work. - The account, **u/whitehouse**, is currently sharing information about the administration's response to **Hurricane Helene**, including over **$37 million in assistance** for over 28,000 households. - The account also highlights the presence of more than **1,000 FEMA officials** and over **1,200 Urban Search and Rescue personnel** on the ground. - The White House's participation on Reddit faced initial hiccups, with the **r/Georgia subreddit** initially removing the White House's post, though it was later restored. - This move signals Reddit's continued rise as a popular social media site for news updates, even replacing traditional media channels for some users. Source: [Techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/08/the-white-house-joins-reddit-and-shares-hurricane-information/)

Adani - A necessary evil!

The world of politics is complex, even more so when it comes to the broken and diverse diaspora like India. We are probably one of the only countries which have survived as a democracy with such a huge fractured demography. We are divided by languages, religion, caste, class and culture but somehow, through miracles we have so far managed to stay united as a country through all this mutual hate and disdain between every small group. Coming to the point, we pioneered NAM - Non alignment Movement which rational said as a country we wouldn’t get pulled into the wars of the white men! This movement led by India post world war 2 was a huge success which got hundreds of past colonies under its principles to avoid being labelled an ally or axis power and to view the world in a more nuanced way. We one of the youngest democracies understood the reality of diversity amongst people and a need for different forms of government based on different needs of a country. We didn’t jump to conclude Russia was bad and USA was good. This show of strength in acceptance of diverse value system pushed us away from the western capitalist booster packages given to all its allies. While the western capital world made their own rules for a game in which all their blind allies had the most favourable support systems and UN interventions to aid in amassing massive wealth. This neo colonialism of the west used corruption, election interference and war to enrich their neo corporate kings and feudal lords. There are thousands of example of corruption used by US entities with countries across the world to influence policy to favour their monetary outcomes. These monstrous capitalist feudal overlords now influence both policy, politics and culture. I don’t really blame them for doing this because it’s what most would do if they had the oppurtunity. Now in this new dollar colonised world, a country doesn’t get favourable tariffs if they are not aligned to western economic and cultural ideas. You as a leader of the nation has to let your people suffer for your ideological purposes or you play the game with their rules and defeat them. Modi chose this instead, but mind you, to play this game against not just the most funded political organisations of the world, you also need to fight the wealthiest feudal lords of the west who made their money in the neo colonial conquests and will do anything to defend this lordship. To fight these neo colonial feudal lords of the west like the soros, the rockefellers, the clintons and the many more dark overlords, countries like us need billionaires who are made in India who are vehemently rooted in Indian culture. The ones not influenced or pushed over by the western overlords. These billionaires are the new generals of war, like the nawabs and nizams of the Mughal era. For a war which is fought on ideological and economic fronts, you need the warriors like the Ambani’s and Adani. Here, China CCP built its billionaires, UAE kings protected its oil billionaires, Russia enabled its oligarchs to effectively counter western cultural and economic mal influence. So, you, wake up from the clutches of the western neo colonial hangover, realise the matrix you are in and stop measuring ourselves with western moral and ethical standards, which are not cultural and socially relevant for us. Stop criticising your parents for their views not aligned with the western standards. Stop blaming our business owners for failing to uphold a superior moral principle while surviving a business against the western hegemony itself is impossible. Stop blindly hating our businessmen/neo war generals for western random indictments. It’s not an endorsement to criminal activities. It’s a wake up call to realise it’s a fight to survive and thrive. To do so effectively like China, you can’t and should play the game of west by the rules of the game. You need to create wedges in the games and drive it down to win it at any cost. All morality and ethics is great to have when your entire population doesn’t have to worry about food for every meal and a roof over their head. So, you the English educated, western pop culture influenced, middle class MNC Employee who believes all things west is morally superior, please think more! We may not like Adani or Ambani or even Modi, but in a war you don’t worry yourself about what you like. You either win and do the right thing or die and become irrelevant. This doesn’t mean you have to support this process but don’t judge based on flawed moral principles.

Individualism, self-care, and the mental health crisis

The experience of scrolling through social media has become increasingly unsettling. On one side, we encounter harrowing images of gruesome violence amid a live genocide, and on the other, upbeat psychology gurus preach that exercise, mindfulness, and positive self-talk are the keys to overcoming every kind of distress. This jarring contrast reflects a deep discord in how suffering is addressed today. At the heart of this disconnect is neoliberal ideology, which has deeply embedded within us the notion that our problems—including systemic ones—can be resolved by individual efforts alone. Neoliberalism, a prominent ideology in the late 20th century, reshaped the economy and culture. In the aftermath of World War II, many countries embraced state intervention, supporting welfare systems, regulated labour markets, and nationalized industries. But by the 1970s, economic crises such as “stagflation” paved the way for the rise of neoliberalism, championed by figures like Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. This ideology favoured limited government intervention, glorifying market autonomy and individual self-sufficiency. As neoliberalism gained traction, it did more than change economic policy — it transformed societal expectations. Once a provider of public support, the state became a mere spectator, leaving individuals to navigate a competitive market alone. This shift consolidated economic power in the hands of a few elites while claiming to grant personal freedom. The ideology of individual responsibility became so pervasive that it seeped into every aspect of life, including how we understand mental health. In the mental health arena, neoliberalism’s influence is unmistakable. The psychology disciplines, gaining prominence after neoliberal reforms, contributed to the ideology’s spread by emphasizing individual responsibility for well-being. The psychological effects of social and economic disparities were increasingly reframed as personal mental health problems, requiring personal solutions. This is why the advice from self-help gurus—promoting mindfulness, positive self-talk, and optimistic thinking—can feel disconnected from reality. While these practices can be beneficial, they ignore the fact that much of the distress people experience stems from systemic issues like income inequality, marginalization, and violence. Widespread social suffering cannot be addressed by self-reflection and positivity alone. Yet, under neoliberalism, the burden of addressing social ills is shifted from the state to the individual, leaving deeper structural causes unchallenged. This shift is evident in the growing influence of positive psychology and the self-help industry, which began to dominate in the 1990s. According to these movements, happiness and success depend on optimism, accountability, and relentless self-improvement. The healthy “self” was re-imagined as competitive, productive, and constantly striving for betterment. However, as Michel Foucault’s concept of bio-power highlights, modern societies control individuals not through overt force but through the subtle regulation of bodies and behaviors. Under neoliberalism, this happens through the encouragement of incessant self-monitoring and personal accountability for mental health. Individuals are subtly nudged to accept diagnoses, undergo treatment, and believe that their well-being is entirely their responsibility. Social media amplifies these messages, reinforcing the idea that “if you’re struggling, you’re simply not doing enough to help yourself”. While greater awareness of mental health is positive, and psychiatric interventions save lives, the growing perception that everyone is at risk of mental illness isn’t solely due to a better understanding of psychological disorders. It’s also because psychological discourse has gained a hegemonic status, shaping our understanding of well-being in ways that align with profit motives. The question remains: Is the emphasis on self-work truly empowering us, or is it simply a sedative that keeps us from addressing the broken systems at the root of our distress? While mental health interventions have undeniably helped many, the broader societal focus on individual responsibility risks oversimplifying the issue. To truly address mental health crises, we must look beyond self-help solutions and recognize that personal well-being is intricately tied to societal conditions. True empowerment will come not just from individual effort, but also from collective action to challenge the systems that perpetuate suffering. -------- Taken from "We can’t self-care our way through a genocide" by Umrah Beg.