Re: 2 explosions at Boston Marathon, UPDATE: at least 2 dead, 23 injured
I agree American lives aren't worth more than any other. But, but, but: among the two people dead is an 8-year-old-boy. Surely a child's live is worth more than a normal life--all the unlived potential, gone because the poor child went to see something exciting.
American deaths get a lot of publicity because the US is a big, powerful country. As a result, it's all over Twitter and all kinds of media. Is it fair that they get so much more attention than civilians killed by drones? Of course not. But personally, I don't think I'm to blame for knowing/talking more about an incident 5 miles away from my room, than about incidents that are a thousand miles away. It's quite possible that people I know have been injured, and that does make a difference. Given a choice, would I rather save an American over, say, an Iraqi? Of course not. But I'm not given a choice in terms of who I know (and therefore feel more qualified to speak) more about: the lives lost nearby, or the lives lost due to American aggression. I'm not proud of it, but I can't do too much about the reality of localism, or the reality of a nation's dominance, which works in sports as it does in real life.
Re: 2 explosions at Boston Marathon, UPDATE: at least 2 dead, 23 injured
In order to be a true humanitarian you must discount the lives of anyone killed in a tragedy who happen to be privileged because if you show any signs of grief for these privileged people it automatically means you are discounting the lives of less privileged people.
It is getting a lot of attention because the pictures coming out are so graphic. People with runners' bibs on having limbs amputated... it is hard not to be moved by such things.
There is no hypocrisy in feeling compassion for victims of random violence, even if one cannot express that compassion in the case of every incident that occurs.
What kind of sick beasts plant bombs to kill as many innocent people as possible. I hope they will be found soon.
I've had too much evil in a short period of time, I feel ill. There is only so much one can take at the same time.
This is obviously awful and all. I hope things like that would never happen; but it's just the over-idealistic side of me that could think this way.
But something I find more terrorising than terrorism itself is the fact that hundreds of people could be killed in a airplane crash in Uzbekistan, nobody would be talking about it. Only because it happened in Uzbekistan.
I think every country just gives TOO MUCH importance to what could happen in the United States. Well... I know: History, money, power, blah blah blah. But it's irritating, unfair and unjustifiable.
It's nothing of the sort. It's a totally normal human reaction. People identify more with stuff that hits closer to home.
People who are talking here are from western countries, many of them from America. We go to sporting events all the time. This could very easily have been one of us. Hell, I have been a spectator at the Boston Marathon. I have run half-marathons. I know exactly what it would have been like.
On the other hand, it is difficult for most people to identify with a plane crash in a country very different to ours, that most people know little about, who has an ex-Soviet airline that has little resemblance to the safe, well-maintained western airlines we use.
A differing emotional response doesn't equate to placing a differing value on the two groups of people's lives. I am sure that Uzbekistanis would have the complete opposite reaction to the two incidents, for exactly the same reasons, and rightly so.
But echoes you are thinking about this as if it was just a random attack on a local street in Boston and just Bostonians the target, which would be just as tragic but it would fit your description of a local attack. But this was the Boston Marathon. The top event in running, worldwide fame and a race represented by 70 countries, the winners are almost never American. This is akin to an attack happening at the World Cup, Wimbledon,world swimming championships or any top event in any sport.
I know everyone has their opinion about the attention and coverage given to this event, but I think it would really be appreciated if you guys discussed those in another topic (there is "Are Western "first world country" lives seen as more valuable by the media?" in the first page, more relevant to the subject, or you are free to open another topic about it). I hope we can all realize this is a sensitive issue and keep this topic about the incident itself
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