Reaction to terrorist attacks

[keg]

It might be my rose tinted glasses and i'm not taking away from what happened in Paris but i don't remember the rest of the world coming out in support in the same way when we were getting bombed in the '70s and '80s?

[felly100]

How do you think Tibetans feel?

[BrowningB525]

It might be my rose tinted glasses and i'm not taking away from what happened in Paris but i don't remember the rest of the world coming out in support in the same way when we were getting bombed in the '70s and '80s?

If the terrorists aren't careful they'll end up creating more unity than there has ever been.

[digger]

It's shameful how many people of limited intelligence are posting on social media about the slaughter in Kenya as if it happened a day ago

[keg]

If the terrorists aren't careful they'll end up creating more unity than there has ever been.

That is true, it seems to be working with the US and Russia.

[Alex C]

Different world now with social media. We are pretty much in touch with the whole world at the touch of a button.

[keg]

Different world now with social media. We are pretty much in touch with the whole world at the touch of a button.

Also true, i did consider that before posting. Have we also become a more caring crowd, see the world as local?

[chrisjpainter]

It's shameful how many people of limited intelligence are posting on social media about the slaughter in Kenya as if it happened a day ago

er, why?

Several of my friends have done likewise, the reason being that when it happened, it was covered in the news for a couple of days, then nothing. there was no weird facebook kenya flag photo thing, no sports held a minute's silence and very little follow up on Kenya's ongoing struggle with Al Shabab. Many are putting this up to highlight the innate racism of much of the media, that ranks white, Westerns above black Africans. I can't speak for everyone - some may have seen it being reposted and thought it was new - but a lot are drawing attention to how certain atrocities become forgotten if they're not in the right part of the world.

 

A year from now, The BBC will cover France's memorial services for the atrocities in Paris and rightly so. But will they do the same for Kenya's?

People have also forgotten the brutality in the C.A.R. and not even noticed that Burundi is potentially slipping towards a similar humanitarian catastrophe as befell Rwanda.

Edited November 16, 2015 by chrisjpainter

[digger]

Because the posts I have seen have been a Johnny come lately type. They didn't post anything then but do so now in a sheep like way. As is the way of social media.

edited to add sadly what happens in Kenya does not resonate as loudly as an attack on a place geographically as close and well known as Paris.

Edited November 16, 2015 by digger

[Danger-Mouse]

It might be my rose tinted glasses and i'm not taking away from what happened in Paris but i don't remember the rest of the world coming out in support in the same way when we were getting bombed in the '70s and '80s?

 

You`re absolutely correct, they didn`t.

 

Then again your point can also be said to be true for the ETA attacks in Spain and probably many other terrorist groups that focused on a single state.

 

ISIS though are an international threat so perhaps it`s a case of more people thinking "that could so easily have been me". And as has already been said social media has made the world a smaller place.

[Hamster]

er, why?

Several of my friends have done likewise, the reason being that when it happened, it was covered in the news for a couple of days, then nothing. there was no weird facebook kenya flag photo thing, no sports held a minute's silence and very little follow up on Kenya's ongoing struggle with Al Shabab. Many are putting this up to highlight the innate racism of much of the media, that ranks white, Westerns above black Africans. I can't speak for everyone - some may have seen it being reposted and thought it was new - but a lot are drawing attention to how certain atrocities become forgotten if they're not in the right part of the world.

 

A year from now, The BBC will cover France's memorial services for the atrocities in Paris and rightly so. But will they do the same for Kenya's?

People have also forgotten the brutality in the C.A.R. and not even noticed that Burundi is potentially slipping towards a similar humanitarian catastrophe as befell Rwanda.

 

Never mind Kenya, what about Iraqi and Syrians being murdered by the thousands at the hands of Daesh/Isis, what about the lives of soldiers and volunteers lost fighting them (can't be fun being shot at with Western supplied arms) if I hear one more ignoramous saying why don't meeslims come out and condone ........... I think I'll puke.

[keg]

 

You`re absolutely correct, they didn`t.

 

Then again your point can also be said to be true for the ETA attacks in Spain and probably many other terrorist groups that focused on a single state.

 

ISIS though are an international threat so perhaps it`s a case of more people thinking "that could so easily have been me". And as has already been said social media has made the world a smaller place.

Good points.

[chrisjpainter]

Because the posts I have seen have been a Johnny come lately type. They didn't post anything then but do so now in a sheep like way. As is the way of social media.

edited to add sadly what happens in Kenya does not resonate as loudly as an attack on a place geographically as close and well known as Paris.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-34833134An article on why the Kenya massacre popped up again.

Found this buried on the BBC news somewhere. It turns out 'Jenni Harwood' is as dumb and ill-informed as you suggest! This is a pretty depressing line:

 

'In total, the story [about Kenya] attracted more than 10 million page views over two days - or about four times as many as it did when the attack actually happened in April.'

[digger]

fair play for posting that. its a sad fact that we pay close attention to matters close to home.

True dilemma, my 15 year old daughter is going to a gig in London tomorrow night. One train, two tubes. Been begged and pleaded at - it's her life to live but ill be glad when she texts md to say she's home. was it ever thus ?

[chrisjpainter]

fair play for posting that. its a sad fact that we pay close attention to matters close to home.

True dilemma, my 15 year old daughter is going to a gig in London tomorrow night. One train, two tubes. Been begged and pleaded at - it's her life to live but ill be glad when she texts md to say she's home. was it ever thus ?

you let her go? A small victory for you over the terrorists. good on you.

[grrclark]

I think that it a big part of the problem is that we have become immune or desensitised to the large scale loss of life in certain parts of the world. News about car bombings or suicide bombings in market places in Iraq or Afghanistan are common place so our reaction is much less pronounced.

 

Likewise with Africa, we are used to hearing about atrocities being committed all over that continent so we tend to filter that out. As Hamster so rightly stated we barely give any mention to the massive loss of life taking place in Syria and Iraq at the hand of Daesh.

 

We react to the exception and not the normal.

 

I'm not sure what that says about us other than we are socially conditioned pack animals and that is no great revelation or inspired insight. It is the exact same reason why ideology driven societies or groups like Daesh come to be and can exist.

 

There are some things that do resonate much more powerfully, like the kidnapping of the school girls by Boko Haram or the attack of the shopping mall in Kenya; we also tend to react when there is an aircraft crash with massive loss of life.

 

It is easy to blame the media for not giving the same level of coverage to these events, but in truth the mainstream mass media tell us what we are most interested in hearing about, most especially the tabloid media. The ignorant man will blame others for keeping him in the dark when the real truth is that he just doesn't bother to look for himself.

 

We can only process, absorb and react to so much information, as a result we limit our field of view to what we can easier understand, more familiar and what we can relate to and that in turns strengthens our reaction to those familiar things; hence mass killings in Paris will resonate much louder than a mass killing in Beirut.

[Psyxologos]

A couple of days before the tragic events in Paris, another Massacre took place in Lebanon. Did you hear about it?

[grrclark]

A couple of days before the tragic events in Paris, another Massacre took place in Lebanon. Did you hear about it?

It was reported in mainstream media, but it most certainly did not have the volume of coverage that the Paris massacre did.

[Danger-Mouse]

I think that it a big part of the problem is that we have become immune or desensitised to the large scale loss of life in certain parts of the world. News about car bombings or suicide bombings in market places in Iraq or Afghanistan are common place so our reaction is much less pronounced.

 

Likewise with Africa, we are used to hearing about atrocities being committed all over that continent so we tend to filter that out. As Hamster so rightly stated we barely give any mention to the massive loss of life taking place in Syria and Iraq at the hand of Daesh.

 

We react to the exception and not the normal.

 

I'm not sure what that says about us other than we are socially conditioned pack animals and that is no great revelation or inspired insight. It is the exact same reason why ideology driven societies or groups like Daesh come to be and can exist.

 

There are some things that do resonate much more powerfully, like the kidnapping of the school girls by Boko Haram or the attack of the shopping mall in Kenya; we also tend to react when there is an aircraft crash with massive loss of life.

 

It is easy to blame the media for not giving the same level of coverage to these events, but in truth the mainstream mass media tell us what we are most interested in hearing about, most especially the tabloid media. The ignorant man will blame others for keeping him in the dark when the real truth is that he just doesn't bother to look for himself.

 

We can only process, absorb and react to so much information, as a result we limit our field of view to what we can easier understand, more familiar and what we can relate to and that in turns strengthens our reaction to those familiar things; hence mass killings in Paris will resonate much louder than a mass killing in Beirut.

 

Another very measured post.

 

A couple of days before the tragic events in Paris, another Massacre took place in Lebanon. Did you hear about it?

 

I did, and I was going to mention it in reply to Graham`s post. A selfless act of heroic sacrifice by Adel Tormous who threw himself onto a suicide bomber to save the lives of a bunch of strangers. As I don`t really watch the news very much I wasn`t sure how much media attention it had received. Judging by your post, sadly not very much.

[chrisjh]

you only have to look at road death every month more people are killed on the UK roads than in Paris last week, yet it gets no press if a train were to crash and 1 person was killed it would get days of coverage, we simply become conditioned people being killed in Africa or the middle east is common place, that doesn`t make it right that's just how we are conditioned

[southman1]

Sad things happen all over the world now ,but people have forgotten that Irish Americans raised millions of pounds to fund thei ira in the70s to bomb the UK and to kill and main Irish citercins may be we will see peace but believes in religion has got a lot to answer to my thoughts go out to everyone

[Danger-Mouse]

Sad things happen all over the world now ,but people have forgotten that Irish Americans raised millions of pounds to fund thei ira in the70s to bomb the UK and to kill and main Irish citercins

 

Funnily enough I was going to say something about this very subject in my earlier post but deleted it because I felt it detracted from my main point.

 

As tragic as the events of 9/11 were, I remember at the time thinking "Now they know what it`s like".

 

Indisputably a horrific act but at least it brought the realisation to Americans about what they had been funding.

[Zapp]

If the terrorists aren't careful they'll end up creating more unity than there has ever been.

Don't forget though, that given that they aim to trigger the end of the works by drawing the superpowers into fighting in Syria, that's precisely what they want. They believe they are the prophesied agents of apocalypse, and are doing everything they can to trigger the series of events that will apparently lead to the end, key to which is the worlds major powers fighting a war in northern Syria.

[Mungler]

Ah, that'll be the nukes in Pakistan they're after then...

[Hamster]

Don't forget though, that given that they aim to trigger the end of the works by drawing the superpowers into fighting in Syria, that's precisely what they want. They believe they are the prophesied agents of apocalypse, and are doing everything they can to trigger the series of events that will apparently lead to the end, key to which is the worlds major powers fighting a war in northern Syria.

 

Which religion are you talking about ? In certain circles the above would sound antisemitic.