{"id":4021,"date":"2015-11-17T07:15:54","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T01:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/?p=4021"},"modified":"2015-12-03T21:48:15","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T16:18:15","slug":"yes-paris-got-more-attention-than-beirut-get-over-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/2015\/politics\/yes-paris-got-more-attention-than-beirut-get-over-it.html\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, Paris Got More Attention than Beirut. Get Over It."},"content":{"rendered":"

Seems like\u00a0a lot of people who never showed any concern for Baghdad, Beirut and Lebannon attackes\u00a0when they happened<\/em>, have suddenly woken up. Now their complaint is that the rest of the world is grieving for Paris and ignoring bombings and killings elsewhere in the world. A post by a Facebooker\u00a0Karuna Ezara Parikh has gone viral<\/a>\u00a0saying that “not one white person was killed” in Baghdad, implying that we ignore the\u00a0deaths of all brown people.<\/p>\n

She goes on to complain that “no one changed their status to Baghdad” like they did for Paris. Well, let me ask you Karuna – did\u00a0you<\/em>\u00a0change your status to Baghdad when the bombings happened? No, you didn’t. So why do you suddenly cry for Baghdad after Paris<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Yes, it’s true. No one colored their\u00a0Facebook icon in the the red and white of Lebanon’s flag after the attacks there – including people who are now demanding attention for these attacks. What they are saying is essentially “I never cared about the Lebanon attacks and neither did you. So how dare you suddenly care for Paris? You should be equally unconcerned about Paris as you were for Lebanon!”<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s my\u00a0first problem. Second – I’m perfectly ok with Paris attacks getting more attention than\u00a0Beirut and Baghdad. This notion that everything must get equal coverage is nonsensical. Of course human life is human life, but that’s not the only measure of media attention. If it was, we would be hysterical everyday about the tens of thousands of lives lost to traffic accidents.<\/p>\n

Like it or not, we have a limited attention span. We have to pick and choose what to get outraged over. And this choice is made based on whether or not a particular incident is unusual, interesting, or concerns us in some way or the other. The fact of the matter is that we view the Middle East as a habitual mess. Bombings and attacks happen far more frequently. So when another one occurs, it doesn’t show up on our radar. It’s not because we’re bad people – it’s because it’s not interesting or unusual. Sorry, but that’s just how it works.<\/p>\n

Paris on the other hand is\u00a0viewed as a safe place<\/em>. An attack on this scale happening there is very different from another killing in the middle east. So obviously it gets more attention. That’s life\u00a0– get used to it. And you know what? I’m\u00a0glad<\/em> that there are areas on earth that are perceived as safe. I’m\u00a0happy<\/em> that the entire world is outraged over mass scale murder in an otherwise stable country or city. It means that governments will take steps to ensure that safe places remain safe.<\/p>\n

It has nothing to do with who’s white and who’s brown. It has nothing to do with West and East. Merely reducing the difference in coverage to simplistic stuff like this is lazy thinking and moreover exposes\u00a0an ugly and not-so-subtle feeling of moral superiority. People who think like this have conveniently labelled the hundreds of millions of people showing solidarity with Paris as racists or bigots. Wow, you’re so awesome! You’re the only one here who’s not a racist. Happy now?<\/p>\n

Instead of pretending to be a moral voice and pointing out the lack of attention to other bad stuff happening in the world, how about\u00a0you start<\/em> with pointing them out and drawing attention to these incidents? Write Facebook and blogs posts, start discussions, and organize candle light vigils of Beirut and Baghdad. But will you do any of that? No! You’ll only sit and bitch about the attention Paris is receiving.<\/p>\n

Get over yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not a bad thing that the world grieves for Paris and not Beirut or Baghdad. We view the Middle East as a giant mess up where such things happen too often to get worked up over it. Paris on the other hand, is viewed as “safe”. Terrorist attacks there get much more attention. That’s not a bad thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nYes, Paris Got More Attention than Beirut. Get Over It.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We grieve more for Paris than Baghdad. That's ok. 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