North - South, West - East

[woodface]

Bam. 25.000 people buried. They're still digging in the debris. Mass graves and a quickly muttered ceremony.

Livejournal. Not a word breathed.

9/11. The whole world upside down.

India, a couple of years ago. Millions drown in flood.

World. Not a word breathed.

And don't say that's because the one was an act of terror and the other are natural causes. Because I bet that if that earthquake happened in Europe or the US, you would have heard from it all over the place.

Oh, I'm not pointing the finger at anyone because I'd be pointing at myself too. It just struck me how little we care as soon as it's out of our backyard. How we shrug it off and only respond when suddenly our save little world is threatened. We feel so secure in our every day life that we forget with how few we are compared to those who live in fear of war, hunger or whatever your mind can come up with.

I'm far from a world changer. I'm far from being on the trenches and trying to change anything. But sometimes, things like this make me stop in my tracks and try to grasp hold of what is going on. Then I tell myself there's little I can do and I go back to whatever fandom I was squeeing over.

Dislocate

Comments

[chiroho.livejournal.com]

I was actually going to post something on my LJ, but for whatever reason I didn't. Don't know why, but I definitely thought it was worth mentioning. Probably because it happened when I was barely even online.

It is a terrible tragedy, as was the earthquake in Gujarat back in January 2001. We should pay more attention to these things.

[woodface]

*nods* Yeah, I was going to as well but for some reason didn't either.

These is so much that should get more attention but I wonder if there is enough attention to give.

[nhawk.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree. I actually thought about this the other day, but as you can see I did nothing about it and didn't post anything.

There were posts about the quake in California last week where a few people lost their lives (I think) but not about the thousands and thousands of people who died in Iran.

We all need to think about this more.

:(

[woodface]

I didn't either. It's strange, I wanted to post but I didn't. There is so much we should think about but it never seems enough somehow.

[suzvoy.livejournal.com]

I read these things in the paper and they bring tears to my eyes (literally). But there's only so much of me to give. I have to think of my sanity.

[woodface]

Oh, I know. Like I said, I'm not accusing anyone. We all have our burdens and if we'd take on the world on our shoulders, we'd go nuts.

Just, sometimes like with this, it makes me stop and reevaluate some things. That what has been on my mind suddenly seems so trivial and those tears that it does bring up seem inadequate.

*knuffels*

[suzvoy.livejournal.com]

*knuffels*

[woodface]

You're alright, you know?

*huggles* =o)

[suzvoy.livejournal.com]

Aww! *smooch*

[woodface]

But then I realized that even if they didn't post about it, it didn't mean it didn't effect them in some way.

True. It just made me wonder how some things get mentioned and others don't. How we let most things slide after our initial shock.

My issue is more with the American media and it's lack of attention to things outside the US.

I can't complain about that. I think that the Belgian media does send a large amount of time in what is happening abroad. Then again Belgian isn't quite as big.

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

I wonder too, if it's the scale. It's hard to comprehend, sometimes, the lives lost in huge disasters. It's easier to think about it in the abstract, because I think it's hard for many people to extend empathy on that huge of a scale. Hard to wrap your mind around the thought of it on an individual level.

[woodface]

Hmmm; if you combine both distance and scale perhaps that is an explanation. When something happens closer to home, it's so much easier to imagine it on a personal level. Numbers can be dizzying sometimes but it's when you're able to take out one life that you have it easier to understand.

[meeshy.livejournal.com]

I rarely comment on things like this. I read the news frequently- be it online or in newspapers, but I rarely comment on what's been going on- no matter how much some of it moves me. There's a big thing in the UK media too where if its not happening in the UK or the US or it doesn't concern British citizens its not news- which appauls me... Sometimes its hard to comprehend why the lives of the thousands of people in Iran are seemingly insignificant compared to some comedian who died of cancer (guess which got the bigger news coverage in the paper!!)

*sigh*

Thinking about this kind of stuff, its depressing, how as you say- once its not in our backyard no one cares any more. :( I'm no better than anyone else but it certainly makes you think... how very few people probably even CARE about what's happened. I don't think commenting in my livejournal would make me care any more than I do, I tend to show my respect in other smaller ways- donations to the international red cross and stuff. It's just sad that the media in this country doesn't seem to have the same... respect? concern for human life? that a lot of people do...

okay I'm rambling and not helping my bad mood any... so I'll shut up!

[woodface]

Sorry for the bad mood *knuffels*

I get what you mean. Well, if I hear that I am glad with Belgian media as they do put this disaster on the front page in both the paper and on television. It just made me think about the whole attitude people have towards the news in general. Everyone does it to some degree as it seems impossible to care about everything.

Thanks for the response =o)

[meeshy.livejournal.com]

:) It's just one of those mysteries of life I guess...

[woodface]

Something like it, I guess.

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

After what one of my friends posted, I was too flummoxed to talk.

[woodface]

You know, I honestly couldn't care less about them refusing help from Israel. I don't think that would have made any difference and in a way it isn't as hypocrite *shrugs*

[lytarules.livejournal.com]

*knuffels*

[woodface]

*huggles*

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

I know. There is a *lot* of inequality in the world. :(

I don't really post about stuff like that...because if I started, I couldn't stop. Yes, the scale is massive, but I still look at it on a human level. I couldn't even begin to write about every one of the devastated lives. Where do you even start? And why should I stop there just because the number of victims was enormous? I should be writing about the teenager who was raped and murdered two weeks ago. About the family who lost their mother the day before the fires hit here...and then lost their home and everything in it. About the ongoing torture and bloodshed in Guatemala...and many other countries. About the AIDS epidemic in Africa where they're predicting 5 *million* deaths in the next decade just from that disease.

Tragedy, inequality, murders, loss, devastation and disasters happen every single day. Every single second. I could go on and on and on.

But I don't think I will. LJ is my little escape from the world - not the end-all be-all of my being. If that makes me appear shallow, so be it.

[woodface]

It doesn't make you shallow. Then I would be as well. I really hope I'm not.

I'm totaly aware of that. Just sometimes you start to think about it and it gets, well frustrating for lack of a better word.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I really hope I'm not.

Not as far as I'm concerned. :)

I'm totaly aware of that. Just sometimes you start to think about it and it gets, well frustrating for lack of a better word.

I completely get that - I could see your frustration. *hugs* Global inequality has a tendency to do that. :( In fact, I was just posting in...*someone's* journal today about the wretchedness of the American news media. I usually check out the BBC because at least I'll have *some* idea of what's going on in the world.

[woodface]

Not as far as I'm concerned. :)

Thanksie. Of course this gets you off the hook too ;o)

I completely get that - I could see your frustration. *hugs* Global inequality has a tendency to do that. :(

It does. I guess it just leaves you feeling helpless or inadequate at moments. *huggles*

I was just posting in...*someone's* journal today about the wretchedness of the American news media. I usually check out the BBC because at least I'll have *some* idea of what's going on in the world.

I have heard that complaint a few times today, and the certainly wasn't the first time. I have watched CNN and BBC world at the same time a couple of times and it always strikes me how big the difference in reporting is. I tend to get annoyed while watching CNN *looks sheepish*

*knuffels*

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Thanksie. Of course this gets you off the hook too ;o)

Noticed that, huh? *g*

I guess it just leaves you feeling helpless or inadequate at moments.

Yeah. :(

I have heard that complaint a few times today, and the certainly wasn't the first time. I have watched CNN and BBC world at the same time a couple of times and it always strikes me how big the difference in reporting is. I tend to get annoyed while watching CNN *looks sheepish*

I don't usually bother with CNN or any of the other ones here...unless there's something big going on here. They annoy me too. ;)

[woodface]

Noticed that, huh? *g*

Of course not...

I don't usually bother with CNN or any of the other ones here...unless there's something big going on here. They annoy me too. ;)

You know, I'm always glad to hear that. Cause it's worrying when I do look at it.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm always glad to hear that. Cause it's worrying when I do look at it.

Bleh. Is a long-standing peeve of mine.

[woodface]

=o( *knuffels*

Go BeeB!

[audrich.livejournal.com]

*feels humble*

{looks at own frivilous, self-centred posts}

*hangs head in shame*

[woodface]

*hangs head in shame*

No, hon. I didn't mean it like that. It's not about pointing a finger and telling people to write about it. It's just more a contemplation about out society and its attitudes to crisis in the third world. Or something like it. *knuffels*

[psquelly.livejournal.com]

A few ideas (yeah, I'm late in the game, so sue me)

1- money. It's always about money. The US has it and Iran doesn't. Why report about people dying when no one who cares is going to buy your paper (harsh, but true)

2- It was a terrorist thing instead of a natural thing. More shocking to think it was intentional.

3- There's only so much fear/sadness/anger to go around. The ones that get talked about are the ones that get talked about. It feeds on itself. Kind of like what movies get watched are the ones other people have watched.

4- The people with blogs are Americans, Europeans, first worlders. They're gonna write about what's happening at home first. If there were more people in India writing, there'd be more people reading about India.