Rapper, Azealia Banks, Rants about the Russia/Ukraine Conflict

American rapper, Azealia Banks, well known for her feuds and contrarian opinions, dropped a rant on her Instagram story regarding the Russian war with Ukraine.

She had a lot to say, as always. She accused President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of holding African exchange students and young men hostage in Ukraine. She thought his appearance at the Grammy’s was shameful and she accused him of emotionally blackmailing Western nations into aiding him. Azealia’s full statement was posted on her Instagram story earlier today.

Although her arguments may be all over the place, there may or may not be some substance to some of her claims. It all boils down to perspective at this point and what version of the truth people are willing to run with. This is problematic because there are so many versions of the truth out there about the conflict that people are literally just running on conspiracy theories and are wary of fact checking. A phenomenon that is simply a reflection of a bigger societal problem in the age of social media.

This, however, is not an invalidation of her point. Afterall Ukraine has been accused severally of weaponizing propaganda. Although the more sensible approach to the conflict, would be neutrality and circumspection, especially from those on the outside looking in. Both countries are doing what they believe would preserve the sovereignty of their territories. Many are of the opinion that it is a war of egos but when has ego never been involved in conflict?

Rather than pick a side to champion or criticize, the best approach may be to stick to seeking the truth and not depend solely on mainstream media for facts. People should be more attentive and sieve out junk knowledge. We should all also remember that war is never the best case scenario and no nation would engage in it unless they thought it was absolutely unavoidable. In conclusion, we should all read more and yell less.