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Why did the Paris attacks get more coverage than the Peshawar school massacre?

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Reply 100
And it does not mean I agree with what's happening on the media. Being french I think we talk too much about it because we don't publish as much the other news.
Reply 101
Original post by Dexa
Read what I said, I specifically mentioned that i'm not trying to compare numbers.

As for freedom of expression, why is it that Islamic girls are banned from wearing the hijab in public schools?


I don't know about England but in France we are considered as a secular state and so we are not allowed to bring religion into public institutions.
Original post by pink pineapple
The fact that France is a western country and these type of atrocities are a lot less common here than in Pakistan.


Best post in the thread, it's like if we get freak weather that's commonplace in other parts of the world it's obviously going to be covered more here because it rarely happens.

Some of the crack pot theories on the first page :biggrin:. Zionist media wanting war/Racism m8 it's cos they're brown.

Can't believe people have been repping them as well. Worrying lads, seriously.
Does it matter? I prefer it that way. I'd rather not give the West the hysterical momentum needed to invade West Africa, because that's all it takes.
Original post by zaheenshah_
What you're trying to say is that so many children getting murdered in Pakistan is normal because people aren't "familiar" with Pakistanis? Humans are humans no matter what! everyone's death matters. Your thoughts on this matter are extremely inconsiderate and have a hint of partiality. Heartless people like you make me lose faith in humanity.


No, that is not what I said. I suggest you go back and read it again.
Original post by Dexa
Why is that when a terrorist group slaughters more than 100 children at a school, it gets one or two days of media coverage, perhaps 1 thread on TSR, and hardly any mention of it being an Islamic attack on Islamic people?

Yet the minute the Paris attacks happen....boom! camera's everywhere, 24/7 media coverage, multiple "popular" discussion threads on TSR, people calling it Paris' 9/11, then the whole world suddenly considers their position on Islam?

I just don't understand it. I'm not trying to quantify the differences in mortalities, but why did those 132 children deserve less global attention than those who died at Charlie Hebdo? Where were the hundreds of gatherings in European cities, the vigils etc? Is it because it happened outside the Western world so it didn't require that much focus? Or was it because it didn't suit a West vs Islam agenda that so many people are being brainwashed with these days? :rolleyes:

You're trying to set up some kind of equivalence where there is absolutely none. Grow up.
I'm going to answer this question and I'm going to give an answer that I personally am 99% certain is the correct answer( I'd never say 100% cos that's just arrogant:tongue:).

You may think its a simple answer and you'd be right.


Because human beings are inherently selfish and the media,like most things in our society,are at the beck and call of this selfishness.
The media includes newspapers of course and newspapers necessarily make more of stories that sell the most papers.Why should the Paris attacks sell more papers?Because people in the west care more about their 'rights' than the lives of schoolchildren in Africa.Why?Because they are selfish.
In fact the answer to many questions involving human beings is "because people are selfish"
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 107
Original post by Emmahf
I don't know about England but in France we are considered as a secular state and so we are not allowed to bring religion into public institutions.


But how can they prove that. You could wear it purely for cultural reasons, or because you like it. It can still express who you are as a person without being a religious symbol. What right does your government have to infringe the rights of an individual?
Paris is in the west, that is the obvious reason.

Any country in the west will always get more coverage
Reply 109
Original post by Unkempt_One
You're trying to set up some kind of equivalence where there is absolutely none. Grow up.


Why don't you actually contribute something to the thread without resorting to petty insults and you might actually learn something?

If you believe terrorism in the middle east doesn't impact the west as much as terrorist attacks in europe then you are terribly deluded. Terrorism is a global threat at all times, and generally stems from places where we need to know what's going on such as Africa and the Middle east. Especially in the middle east who are major oil holders, which pretty much every major country in europe and US has a stake in. So should we just ignore what's happening in Nigeria and let Boko Haram just take over North Africa? But wait, the Chinese are investing in Africa aren't they. That has an effect on the Chinese economy, which pretty much has an effect on the world economy as a result. So open your eyes and stop being brainwashed by the western media.
I am afraid I didn't read all of the posts, so sorry if this has been mentioned already.

But beyond the attack on free speech and the fact that it was on French soil, where attacks are few compared to more troubled countries, there is also the simple reason that some of the people killed were very well known journalists/cartoonists.

In fact, for the first day, all the media talked about were the 4 celebrities that were killed (Cabu, Wolinski, Charb and Tignous), you didn't even really know who else had died. It's only that evening and the next day that people started saying 12 were killed, let's not forget the other 8 please... Then it got bigger with the hostage situation. Then the politicians' circus started....

It boils down to people's strange fascination with celebrities... If your neighbour dies of cancer, no one much will talk about it but if a singer or actor does, then it is all over the news... I am afraid to say that, if it had been an attack where unknown people had died, it would have made the news of course, but never to that extent of global coverage.

On exactly the same day as the Charlie Hebdo attacks, an entire town in Nigeria was razed by Boko Haram, a massacre of some 2,000 people. Not a single peep out of the media about it until 4 to 5 days later. They were also killed by islamist extremists - were they less human, less deserving of our outrage, respect or consideration? No. Did they get minutes of silence or marches for them? No. If a well known pop star had been caught there and died, you would have heard nothing else for days.

It is the sad and shallow way of the world...
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 111
Original post by Wilfred Little
Best post in the thread, it's like if we get freak weather that's commonplace in other parts of the world it's obviously going to be covered more here because it rarely happens.

Some of the crack pot theories on the first page :biggrin:. Zionist media wanting war/Racism m8 it's cos they're brown.

Can't believe people have been repping them as well. Worrying lads, seriously.


Is it really commonplace for 2000 Nigerians to be slaughtered or 132 Pakistani school children to be gunned down, even in Africa/Asia? I don't think so. It's still terrorism, and we are the same threat from these groups as any other country in the world. Why weren't there any vigils or protests for these African and Asian people? "Because it happens all the time over there..." The human race is remarkably shallow.
Original post by Dexa
Is it really commonplace for 2000 Nigerians to be slaughtered or 132 Pakistani school children to be gunned down, even in Africa/Asia? I don't think so. It's still terrorism, and we are the same threat from these groups as any other country in the world. Why weren't there any vigils or protests for these African and Asian people? "Because it happens all the time over there..." The human race is remarkably shallow.


Terrorism is more common in those countries than here, and those incidents did get a lot of coverage here.

If it happened here obviously it would get more coverage than over there because people tend to be more concerned when things happen on their own doorstep. It is not about the West vs Islam like you tried to say it was ffs :rolleyes:,

But keep on crying about the media brainwashing people if it makes you feel better.
Reply 113
Original post by Wilfred Little
Terrorism is more common in those countries than here, and those incidents did get a lot of coverage here.

If it happened here obviously it would get more coverage than over there because people tend to be more concerned when things happen on their own doorstep. It is not about the West vs Islam like you tried to say it was ffs :rolleyes:,

But keep on crying about the media brainwashing people if it makes you feel better.


So what if it's more common? I'm concerned about those attacks because it still affects our country (see one of my posts above on how this is so), otherwise we should just ignore what happens full stop and let them run riot. It got hardly any coverage, take a random sample of people when you next go out and ask them if they heard about the Baga or Peshawar massacres.

It doesn't make me feel better. I just look at things with an open mind by actually having an independent thought, and not biasing my opinions based on what I read on BBC.

And you never answered my second question.
They got more coverage because we are in Europe and as we are in the 21st century these attacks are rare over here


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Original post by Dexa
Why don't you actually contribute something to the thread without resorting to petty insults and you might actually learn something?

If you believe terrorism in the middle east doesn't impact the west as much as terrorist attacks in europe then you are terribly deluded. Terrorism is a global threat at all times, and generally stems from places where we need to know what's going on such as Africa and the Middle east. Especially in the middle east who are major oil holders, which pretty much every major country in europe and US has a stake in. So should we just ignore what's happening in Nigeria and let Boko Haram just take over North Africa? But wait, the Chinese are investing in Africa aren't they. That has an effect on the Chinese economy, which pretty much has an effect on the world economy as a result. So open your eyes and stop being brainwashed by the western media.

Terrorist attacks of this severity are a much rarer occurrence in the West than in Pakistan. When incidents like this take place in peaceful countries the impact on our conscience is immensely greater. And perhaps most importantly to this attack, it has been linked to the issue of freedom of speech which is one of our most beloved rights. You perfectly well understand this of course, which is why you simply come across as smug when you say "I don't understand this." As for your point about global terrorism, although you are of course right about the effect this has on the global economy, and I would agree that combating terrorism is ultimately a global effort, it's generally an irrelevant point. For one, you simply can't expect people in the West to empathise with those living in the middle east, no matter how much you think it should be otherwise. There's a massive gulf in culture, geography, and wealth which simply doesn't lend itself to solidarity. It's also a bit nutty to bring being 'brainwashed' by the western media into it. Media will generally react to what is of public interest, and even if the media were to report on the Peshawar massacre with the same pathos I sincerely doubt that people would have an equivalent amount of interest for the reasons above. Also, with your mention of an "Islamic attack on Islamic people" I guess you are making the point that vastly more Muslims have been victims of terrorism than Westerners, which is obviously true, but at the same time it doesn't change the fact that our government's job first and foremost is to focus on our domestic security. That's what I meant by false equivalence, you're claiming we should care about every blessed soul on this planet when the reality is we don't, and it's the gulf between what you think we should care about, and what we actually do care about that effectively answers your own point. I insulted you because your attempt to capitalise on serious affairs to make a smug observation, barely an argument, and score points just stuck me as disingenuous.
Original post by zaheenshah_
What you're trying to say is that so many children getting murdered in Pakistan is normal because people aren't "familiar" with Pakistanis? Humans are humans no matter what! everyone's death matters. Your thoughts on this matter are extremely inconsiderate and have a hint of partiality. Heartless people like you make me lose faith in humanity.

No, he's trying to claim it's normal because it is normal. The annual death toll from terrorism in Pakistan is in the several thousands, and while an attack of this scale and brutality is indeed unusual, it is nonetheless less than 10% of those who would have died from terrorism in that country last year, so it's easy to see why people don't regard it as being particularly significant in the grander scheme of things. I don't really know where you got the "people aren't "familiar" with Pakistanis?" idea from, but that's not even close to what he was suggesting. Well, I suppose a straw man is easier to take a moral high ground against.
It's a bit of a strange question to ask why an attack on a major European city gets move coverage...?
In response to the statement about Australia being in the west:

True because the majority of people there are of European descent , aka white.


In western media and many western minds the life of a non-western person is not equivalent to a western person and so not as newsworthy.

I think this is what the OP has picked up on and has been corroborated by many of the responses here.

Both incidents were covered by the media but they were covered very differently. The Peshawar massacre was covered dispassionately with a simple relation of the facts.

The Paris incident with hysteria, indignation and outcry. Part of this may be due to the fact that it was journalists who were attacked and so the media has responded more angrily.

Though it is also true that when journalists are attacked in 'non western countries' it does not elicit a similar response from the media.

As to the abduction of the 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria, a shocking and unprecedented event. This story has simply dropped out of the news does anybody here know what happened to the girls?
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by moggis
I'm going to answer this question and I'm going to give an answer that I personally am 99% certain is the correct answer( I'd never say 100% cos that's just arrogant:tongue:).

You may think its a simple answer and you'd be right.


Because human beings are inherently selfish and the media,like most things in our society,are at the beck and call of this selfishness.
The media includes newspapers of course and newspapers necessarily make more of stories that sell the most papers.Why should the Paris attacks sell more papers?Because people in the west care more about their 'rights' than the lives of schoolchildren in Africa.Why?Because they are selfish.
In fact the answer to many questions involving human beings is "because people are selfish"


I think you are right in the most part, but there is more to it than that. The belief espoused here by some posters is that people who are distant from you geographically and/or culturally somehow don't matter. Their lives are not worthy of the same consideration.

Many are saying why should we care? They live far away and are always getting killed anyway.

Because you are a human being, one of the greatest qualities we have as a human is compassion. One of the worst is selfishness. If nobody cares nothing changes and we have a far bleaker world.
(edited 9 years ago)

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