ONE PICTURE CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING: Changing British Attitudes Towards The Refugee Crisis

ONE PICTURE CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING: Changing British Attitudes Towards the Refugee Crisis

(Comic above by OneMillionMouths)

Below is a timeline of how the image of Alan Kurdi transformed the British response to the refugee crisis overnight. (With Lots of Pictures) 

I realise tumblr has probably been flooded with posts like this, but I wanted to make my own, when I saw the above comic by OneMillionMouths, which really resonated with me in regards to this issue. People are naturally empathetic, you just need to change their perspective and get their attention. 

1) ‘Perceptions & Reality: Public Attitudes to Immigration’ - Bobby Duffy & Tom Frere-Smith (January 2014), Recent report on British attitudes to Immigration. 

2) Katie Hopkins, prominent British tabloid columnist and ‘deluded lunatic’ (her words), publishes a piece of hate speech in a national newspaper describing refugees as ‘cockroaches’. In a following LBC interview, she states ‘I would use gunships’ to deter fleeing refugees. (Monday 20th April 2015)

3) Photos of drowned 3-year-old refugee Alan Kurdi are taken by Nilüfer Demir, (Wednesday 2nd September 2015)

4) Within 24 hours, the image has spread across the world and internet, prompting passionate and fierce debate over the refugee crisis. The Independent UK, The Telegraph. There is a global outpouring of grief and empathy. The Independent (UK) starts a #RefugeesWelcome campaign. (Thursday 3rd September 2015)

5) The Sun Newspaper (which previously published the ‘cockroaches’ article) does dramatic U-turn and starts ‘For Aylan’ campaign, still manages to propose bombing Syria as a solution two days later. (Friday 4th September 2015)

6) British PM David Cameron announces UK to accept 20,000 more refugees. (Monday 7th September 2015)

7) The UK Marches in Solidarity with Refugees. (Saturday 12th September 2015)

8) Government Petition for UK to accept more refugees has amassed 438,312 signatures. Thus meeting criteria  of 100,000 signatures to be debated in Parliament. Official Gov response has been posted from the Home Office (Last accessed: Wednesday 16th September 2015)  

(via Black Is the Color – by Julia Gfrörer)

Reposted after I figured out how to do picture posts :P An exquisitely beautiful comic from Study Group Comics. When I’m trying to show people that comics are more complex than they think, this is the site I send them too. 

How to catch a Thor: lie about the Tube Map.

See one way to do it would be to take the Northern Line, change at Waterloo and get the Jubilee to Canary Wharf then take the Docklands Light Railway to Greenwich, unless of course you want North Greenwich in which case the Jubilee can just take you right there.

Embodiment and Empathy and my sprawling ideas...

So somehow my thesis on explaining how comics is an inherently empathetic medium has descended into an interdisciplinary dissertation that encompasses the fields of neuroscience and cognitive processing, medical humanities, disability studies, art therapy and the theory of art. The application of these theories seeks to analyse the embodied aspect of comics, but I feel like my tutors will be surprised when they read it given that it is the final piece of coursework towards my Masters in Literature.

Also, you can tell I've got a high word count, because I'm talking like this. ^

Day 1: Sort out your life Will

Dear Tumblr, I’m a 22 year old mess, trying to get my shit life together and write my Masters dissertation. I love comics, so I’m writing on that, and if you have any tips / recommendation / advice, then I would love love LOVE to hear from you. 

I’ve kept a diary for a long time, and will continue to do so, but I want to chronicle my learning and my life in a new way, to share it and make conversations happen and organise it all and go paper-free. 

BOOM, that’s what I’m here for.

I guess you haven’t heard the news that David Cameron face-fucked a pig.

In the news today; a man doesn’t sing the national anthem. Never mind the ongoing refugee crisis, or the child tax credits cut though, yeah?