How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division: The powerful, pocket-sized manifesto (Welcome collection)

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In a world that is ever shifting and unpredictable it is totally fine not to feel fine. It is perfectly okay not to be okay. Masovno uništenje ne počinje s koncentracijskim logorima ili plinskim komorama. Diskriminacija uvijek počinje riječima. Počinje jezikom." I read and I read and I’m underlining and nodding and finding these words so incredibly profound - simple, to the point, relatable, maybe even not so groundbreaking but, profound nonetheless. Shafak understands these angry responses, and more generally she recognises the dignity of rage “in the face of injustice and oppression” (she was still writing the book at the time of the killing of George Floyd, and the horrified reactions to that are clearly very much in her mind). But she cautions against seeing anger by itself as a “guiding force and a good friend”, not only because it so easily turns “blindly destructive”, but because the sheer emotional intensity of anger can become a substitute for actually doing anything more positive. She quotes Toni Morrison with warm approval: “I get angry about things, then go on and work.” Turkish-British author Elif Shafak (author of the Booker nominated 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (2019)) provides an affirming essay about the importance of education and the amplifying of unheard voices in the current age. Providing a partial glimpse into her own multicultural upbringing she takes the reader through stages of "Disillusionment and Bewilderment", "Anxiety", "Anger", "Apathy" to "Information, Knowledge, Wisdom."

Kad uzmete novu knjigu u ruke, što prvo učinite? Čitate kratak sadržaj, tražite broj stranica, možda dojmove o knjizi? Ja okrenem posljednju stranu i pročitam životopis autora/-ice. O Elif sam znala da je aktivistica i govornica, da je turskog podrijetla. Činjenica da je doktorirala polit. znanosti i predavala na raznim sveučilištima daje joj kredibilitet govoriti o trenutnom političkom, društvenom i kulturnom stanju u kontekstu globalne pandemije. Ali ne ulijeva nam povjerenje zbog toga. Ono što nisam znala o Elif je činjenica da ju je 2017. časopis Politico uvrstio među dvanaest osoba na svijetu "koje će vašem srcu dati veoma potrebnu radost". Vjerujemo joj jer, dok propituje osjećaje oko nas i unutra nas samih, njezini tekstovi odišu racionalnošću, ali i toplinom, imaju dušu. Ne zaboravlja na srce. U obliku eseja Elif u nekoliko poglavlja tematizira osjećaje razočaranosti i zbunjenosti, tjeskobe, ljutnje i apatije, te u konačnici donosi svoja razmišljanja o informacijama, znanju i mudrosti. In a world that has increasingly become complex and challenging, group narcissism has become a compensation for personal failures, flaws & frustrations. Her writing is emotional and hope filled in a way we are not so accustomed anymore; how many people do we still know who can convincingly (and without irony) plead for the value of liberal democracy?Naar aanleiding van de coronacrisis schreef de Turkse activiste dit zeer persoonlijke essay. De hoofdvraag lijkt te zijn: Als dit allemaal voorbij is, hoe wil je dat de wereld er dan uitziet? Elif Shafak briefly touches on so many big issues in a simple, bite sized way. She reminds us to widen our lense and continue to seek and welcome diversity, understand our anger, frustration, anxiety, while highlighting the importance of communication and taking action and SO MUCH MORE. In How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division, Shafak – a political theorist and Booker Prize-nominated novelist – observes that, with rising unemployment, economic inequality, environmental catastrophe and now a pandemic, a parent can no longer assume their children will have more than they did. Indeed, before telling us how best we might cope in the face of assorted crises, the author explains how, given the extent of misinformation, polarisation, corruption, injustice and inequality at the moment, we are justified in feeling utterly depressed.

But Shafak hasn’t set out to offer an overview of world history. As the example of young Facebook and Like reminds us, she is really pointing to the revolutionary expectations that were raised but never fulfilled by the advent of social media – and to the disappointments as well as to the achievements of the last century of western liberal democracy, which have obviously left much of the traditional power structure (and traditional exclusions) more or less intact. When Elif Shafak’s mother married, she dropped out of university to focus on being a wife. Later, she got divorced and returned to university to finish her studies, leaving her daughter temporarily in the care of her mother. After passing her exams, she thanked her mother for helping to raise Elif. “Don’t thank me,” came the reply. “You focus on improving your daughter’s life. We inherit our circumstances, we improve them for the next generation. Now you need to make sure your daughter has more than you had.” She also puts current events into a broader context, looking at power, wealth, technology and mental health. She argues that narcissism is less a problem of the individual than a collective affliction, exacerbated by social media, which creates ideological echo chambers and discourages us from engaging with theories and arguments that are not in line with our own. “If wanting to be heard is one side of the coin, the other side is being willing to listen,” she explains. “The moment we stop listening to diverse opinions is also when we stop learning.” How To Stay Sane in an Age of Division by Elif Shafak, published by Wellcome Collection The speed at which people are judged, stances are taken and strong opinions are expressed against other people on social media platforms purely based on a single tweet or a couple of tweets, without ever having interacted with them in real life, continues to disturb me. In real life, I find people to be so complex and multi-faceted that it often takes several in-person interactions to be able to understand them, their character and their motivations. As Shafak says in this book, “ Be afraid of people who promise an easy shortcut to simplicity”. She urges everyone to always embrace complexity over simplicity. I feel like every single person should read this book at some stage to be reminded of all of these things.

Through stories we start to imagine lives beyond the one we are living, we recognize the complexity and richness of identities and the damage we to ourselves and to others when we seek to reduce them into a singe defining characteristic.”