5 Twitter Feeds for a Daily Dose of Humanity

It’s surprisingly hard for Americans to be aware of what’s happening in the rest of the world. Europeans love to deride us for this, and rightfully so, but there’s more to our situation than is easily comprehended from the outside.

For example… From my Texas hometown, I can drive ten hours and not leave the state. While for many cities of the western world, a ten hour drive will get you two countries over. If I drove ten hours from where I sit writing this, I could get to Yemen or Saudi Arabia. (Hypothetically, of course.) But ten hours from Texas? I might be still in Texas. Everywhere is just soooo far away!

But that’s only the first hurdle. News outlets in the US cover mainly what will keep Americans attached to their TVs  (those damned liberals/conservatives, something *new* to fear, that sort of thing), and material online is little better, being both lengthy and hard to find. Many Twitter feeds only complicate things, squeezing into 140-characters a mash-up of world terms, abbreviations, hashtag location, hashtag organization, leaving you confounded and bleary-eyed to boot.

Still, Twitter may be the easiest way to start expanding our awareness beyond our borders.

Here are 5 Twitter feed suggestions to get you started:

1. The Culture-ist

The Culture-ist is my favorite feed on this list. They cover food, travel, the arts, and much else besides. They post too often for my taste, but I like it enough to stick around.

2. Peregrine Magazine

Like the Culture-ist, but with a travel bend. I’m relatively new to Peregrine Mag, but I like what I see so far. And they don’t overrun my feed. Just today they shared this gem. You know I love that.

3. The United Nations

I shouldn’t be surprised that the UN has a Twitter account, but then, I was surprised to learn the UN has a Twitter account. Their account veers slightly into “world terms, abbreviations, hashtag location, hashtag organization” territory, but on the whole is straightforward with a variety of news and issues. And they don’t clutter your feed.

4. Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an organization focusing on human rights. Their feed is full of related stories and ways to get involved, released at an extremely tolerable rate.

5. Oxfam

Oxfam is an Internation Coalition of 17 organizations working in 90 countries, focusing on poverty and injustice. I’m learning a ton from this feed.

These are some of my favorites; what are yours?

 

This post is part of this month’s humanity series.