Fed up of people saying: 'what about terrorist attacks in Kenya and Lebanon?'

What happened in Paris is still raw and I find it disrespectful to the victims to see this whataboutery of people saying: 'what about terrorist attacks in Kenya, Lebanon and Syria' and complaining about lesser coverage. It feels like there is an agenda behind these complaints. Do they complain when the Western media covers presidential elections in France to a greater extent than in Kenya? Do they complain when the Western media covers an accident that causes death in Britain to a greater extent than in Lebanon?

Western media outfits report news that most significantly concerns the West and other areas of the world do the same. Why the sudden problem when it relates to a terrorist attack?

Also, France has a lot of influence on the world stage, politically and economically. Events that affect France will naturally receive greater coverage than events that concern other countries.

All human life is sacred, but to keep questioning what has a very obvious answer (why the Western media reports more about the French terror attacks than non-Western attacks) seems very agenda-driven to me.

Reply 1

The Rad Prince

2

I'm sure if France turns into Lebanon and this becomes a monthly occurrence, it won't seem like such a big deal when it does happen.

Reply 2

Lacesso

9

Just part of the growing trend of being a mouthbreathing, hipster do-gooder, I'm afraid.

Reply 3

MatureStudent36

5

Original post by Lady Comstock

What happened in Paris is still raw and I find it disrespectful to the victims to see this whataboutery of people saying: 'what about terrorist attacks in Kenya, Lebanon and Syria' and complaining about lesser coverage. It feels like there is an agenda behind these complaints. Do they complain when the Western media covers presidential elections in France to a greater extent than in Kenya? Do they complain when the Western media covers an accident that causes death in Britain to a greater extent than in Lebanon?

Western media outfits report news that most significantly concerns the West and other areas of the world do the same. Why the sudden problem when it relates to a terrorist attack?

Also, France has a lot of influence on the world stage, politically and economically. Events that affect France will naturally receive greater coverage than events that concern other countries.

All human life is sacred, but to keep questioning what has a very obvious answer (why the Western media reports more about the French terror attacks than non-Western attacks) seems very agenda-driven to me.

I'd agree with you.

They highlight that the rise of religious butters hijacking Islam isn't being driven by western involvement in the Middle East. It's a problem within the religion.

Reply 4

username1258398

19

Original post by Lady Comstock

What happened in Paris is still raw and I find it disrespectful to the victims to see this whataboutery of people saying: 'what about terrorist attacks in Kenya, Lebanon and Syria' and complaining about lesser coverage. It feels like there is an agenda behind these complaints. Do they complain when the Western media covers presidential elections in France to a greater extent than in Kenya? Do they complain when the Western media covers an accident that causes death in Britain to a greater extent than in Lebanon?

Western media outfits report news that most significantly concerns the West and other areas of the world do the same. Why the sudden problem when it relates to a terrorist attack?

Also, France has a lot of influence on the world stage, politically and economically. Events that affect France will naturally receive greater coverage than events that concern other countries.

All human life is sacred, but to keep questioning what has a very obvious answer (why the Western media reports more about the French terror attacks than non-Western attacks) seems very agenda-driven to me.

Agreed. It's also worrying that the instinctive reaction of many Muslims to the incident is to start screaming "ISIS aren't Muslim" rather than expressing sympathy for the victims' families.

Reply 5

Phoebe Buffay

19

Agreed.

It's not just that... I also see quite a number of people (at least on my fb) who have already started talking about conspiracy theories, false flag operations etc.

Reply 6

richpanda

16

Even more, 99% of the people who say "but what about..." wouldn't have even heard of it happening if it wasn't for other people saying "but what about..."

Reply 7

viddy9

16

Original post by Lady Comstock

What happened in Paris is still raw and I find it disrespectful to the victims to see this whataboutery of people saying: 'what about terrorist attacks in Kenya, Lebanon and Syria' and complaining about lesser coverage. It feels like there is an agenda behind these complaints. Do they complain when the Western media covers presidential elections in France to a greater extent than in Kenya? Do they complain when the Western media covers an accident that causes death in Britain to a greater extent than in Lebanon?

Western media outfits report news that most significantly concerns the West and other areas of the world do the same. Why the sudden problem when it relates to a terrorist attack?

Also, France has a lot of influence on the world stage, politically and economically. Events that affect France will naturally receive greater coverage than events that concern other countries.

All human life is sacred, but to keep questioning what has a very obvious answer (why the Western media reports more about the French terror attacks than non-Western attacks) seems very agenda-driven to me.

I think that, in general, our news coverage should be much broader than it currently is, which includes giving more time to problems in other areas of the world, whether to do with terrorist attacks or just elections. If you watch Al-Jazeera for instance, its coverage is much deeper, and at the same time much broader, than the coverage from somewhere like the BBC or Sky News.

I also think that humans in general should adopt a universal concern for all human beings, and advocate policy beliefs in proportion to the scale of the problem that they're trying to solve.

Reply 8

Lady Comstock

OP

14

Original post by viddy9

I think that, in general, our news coverage should be much broader than it currently is, which includes giving more time to problems in other areas of the world, whether to do with terrorist attacks or just elections. If you watch Al-Jazeera for instance, its coverage is much deeper, and at the same time much broader, than the coverage from somewhere like the BBC or Sky News.

For what reason though? Why do we need to know about a bus accident in Sri Lanka to the same extent as one on the M25 that will likely affect a sizeable number of Britons? Is it for ideological reasons, so that the BBC should spend greater money and resources (thereby increasing the licence fee) to report stuff from abroad on an equal level so as not to appear xenophobic?

I can't see any practical purpose to this, so it must be ideological.

I also think that humans in general should adopt a universal concern for all human beings, and advocate policy beliefs in proportion to the scale of the problem that they're trying to solve.

Whilst most people care about others in the world, tribalism is a part of our nature. It's the same reason why you care more about your family and friends than you do a stranger.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

Lord Kitchener

16

Agree wholeheartedly, people like that just want to get retweets. We are aware of that happening but it doesn't hit you as hard as what it does when a neighboring nation gets hit, especially in their capital city.

Reply 10

Ruby17

12

Of course Western Media will report what is relevant to them, more. However, I find it DISRESPECTFUL that human beings around the globe ignore the very terrorism that happened in Paris when its with us, our struggle and daily predicament and challenge with terrorism. What happened in Paris was disgusting, but the world needs to wake up and realise that this is a REALITY for so many of us and has been for decades, yet were world monuments lit up for us when we were slaughtered for going to school? Did thousands come out in support for us as the youth for speaking out against terrorists in our country even though by doing so we were putting our lives on the line? Over 6 million posts for one terrorism attack, but hardly 40 thousand for another, thats a HUGE discrepancy. I don't blame the news, because majority of you have access to the internet you have access to what were going through, our stories, struggle, videos of what goes on. And whether anyone likes it or not, ignoring terrorism in regions only excuberates it, the result we saw in the 9/11 attacks. Think about my frustration for 2 seconds, we've lived through terrorism, lost countless friends, family, limbs, life, rights yet no one ever caused a massive uproar. What sort of scars we have you have absolutely no idea. Thus, I don't find it disrespectful that people bring up them attacks and feel angry about it, because why shouldn't they? It does not matter if terrorism occurs 200 miles from you or 20,000. Terrorism is terrorism and its high time that the entire world stands together if they are truly against terrorism regardless of proximity, religion etc and speak out/support all of us who are living with this plague.

Reply 11

teenhorrorstory

21

Original post by The Rad Prince

I'm sure if France turns into Lebanon and this becomes a monthly occurrence, it won't seem like such a big deal when it does happen.

I agree with OPs general statement however it's not like suicide bomb explosions have been happening frequently in Beirut recently, so it was still a 'big deal'

Reply 12

Hasan_Ahmed

2

Original post by Lady Comstock

What happened in Paris is still raw and I find it disrespectful to the victims to see this whataboutery of people saying: 'what about terrorist attacks in Kenya, Lebanon and Syria' and complaining about lesser coverage. It feels like there is an agenda behind these complaints. Do they complain when the Western media covers presidential elections in France to a greater extent than in Kenya? Do they complain when the Western media covers an accident that causes death in Britain to a greater extent than in Lebanon?

Western media outfits report news that most significantly concerns the West and other areas of the world do the same. Why the sudden problem when it relates to a terrorist attack?

Also, France has a lot of influence on the world stage, politically and economically. Events that affect France will naturally receive greater coverage than events that concern other countries.

All human life is sacred, but to keep questioning what has a very obvious answer (why the Western media reports more about the French terror attacks than non-Western attacks) seems very agenda-driven to me.

I agree with yu. I find a much bigger problem innon western media sources, who themselves make a biger deal out of western deaths than on westrn deaths

Reply 13

viddy9

16

Original post by Lady Comstock

Whilst most people care about others in the world, tribalism is a part of our nature.

It's still wrong and irrational, however, and plenty have overcome this nature. I'm not saying that the media should cover things exactly equally, but they should broaden their coverage, in my view. As I said, if you go to other news outlets, their coverage is much, much broader.

A car crash on the M25, in my view, shouldn't even make the national news. On local news, it's justifiable.

Original post by Lady Comstock

It's the same reason why you care more about your family and friends than you do a stranger.

I spend a lot more time, personally, thinking about the best ways to improve the well-being of strangers in extreme poverty (such as the 17,000 children under the age of five who died in the last 24 hours of preventable diseases) than I do about the well-being of my family and friends. Obviously, if something bad were to happen to my family and friends, I would be more emotionally involved in it, but I believe that one's actions throughout one's life should reflect the scale of any particular problem.

Reply 14

the bear

20

we talk about the Channel Tunnel more than the Seikan Tunnel .... aren't we awful.

Reply 15

Hasan_Ahmed

2

Original post by the bear

Whilst most people care about others in the world, tribalism is a part of our nature.

We should be more enlightened than this.

Reply 16

AlwaysWatching

11

Original post by Ruby17

Of course Western Media will report what is relevant to them, more. However, I find it DISRESPECTFUL that human beings around the globe ignore the very terrorism that happened in Paris when its with us, our struggle and daily predicament and challenge with terrorism. What happened in Paris was disgusting, but the world needs to wake up and realise that this is a REALITY for so many of us and has been for decades, yet were world monuments lit up for us when we were slaughtered for going to school? Did thousands come out in support for us as the youth for speaking out against terrorists in our country even though by doing so we were putting our lives on the line? Over 6 million posts for one terrorism attack, but hardly 40 thousand for another, thats a HUGE discrepancy. I don't blame the news, because majority of you have access to the internet you have access to what were going through, our stories, struggle, videos of what goes on. And whether anyone likes it or not, ignoring terrorism in regions only excuberates it, the result we saw in the 9/11 attacks. Think about my frustration for 2 seconds, we've lived through terrorism, lost countless friends, family, limbs, life, rights yet no one ever caused a massive uproar. What sort of scars we have you have absolutely no idea. Thus, I don't find it disrespectful that people bring up them attacks and feel angry about it, because why shouldn't they? It does not matter if terrorism occurs 200 miles from you or 20,000. Terrorism is terrorism and its high time that the entire world stands together if they are truly against terrorism regardless of proximity, religion etc and speak out/support all of us who are living with this plague.

Apart from your entire paragraph being pretty much inaccurate and/or misunderstood about global media, the bit in bold is completely illogical.

Without trying to sound patronising I'll tell you why. People don't go searching on the internet for terrorist attacks. Why would they? When people go on the internet, they don't think to themselves "I know what'll I'll do, ill try and find out about every single terrorist attack in some obscure part of the planet, rather than do something that affects my life directly like looking for a plumber to fix my toilet/ email a colleague about work/ compare stuff so that they can save money on their weekly shop". People don't have enough time these days to go around searching and learning about every single bit of violence. Mostly, people's news intake consists of a 15 minute viewing of BBC news at ten. People don't deliberately set out not to show support and deliberately ignore terrorism. Though they don't necessarily know the details, they are aware it goes on. It's not some sort of grief contest.

When my gran died of cancer, did you post on social media about cancer worldwide and the need for it to be beaten? No, because you didn't know that my gran died, and it's pretty obvious that cancer needs to beaten so doesn't need to be "shown support" of on Facebook. I did though, because it was relevant to me and relevant to those around me who knew my gran. The media is exactly the same - people will post about something that is relevant to them and they are aware of. Not posting doesn't mean they don't care.

Crucially, posting "support" on Facebook/ social media means nothing. It's just pixels. If you actually want to do something to fight terrorism, try doing something physically - charities, political movement, joining the Armed Forces, setting up your own journalism business. Stop whinging and do something about it before you preach.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 17

Bill_Gates

21

I think it's more to do with Us vs them. Trying to dehumanise muslims.

Some of the stuff i've seen and read in western papers is on par with the Nazis.

Reply 18

Ruby17

12

Original post by AlwaysWatching

Apart from your entire paragraph being pretty much inaccurate and/or misunderstood about global media, the bit in bold is completely illogical.

Without trying to sound patronising I'll tell you why. People don't go searching on the internet for terrorist attacks. Why would they? When people go on the internet, they don't think to themselves "I know what'll I'll do, ill try and find out about every single terrorist attack in some obscure part of the planet, rather than do something that affects my life directly like looking for a plumber to fix my toilet/ email a colleague about work/ compare stuff so that they can save money on their weekly shop". People don't have enough time these days to go around searching and learning about every single bit of violence. Mostly, people's news intake consists of a 15 minute viewing of BBC news at ten. People don't deliberately set out not to show support and deliberately ignore terrorism. Though they don't necessarily know the details, they are aware it goes on. It's not some sort of grief contest.

When my gran died of cancer, did you post on social media about cancer worldwide and the need for it to be beaten? No, because you didn't know that my gran died, and it's pretty obvious that cancer needs to beaten so doesn't need to be "shown support" of on Facebook. I did though, because it was relevant to me and relevant to those around me who knew my gran. The media is exactly the same - people will post about something that is relevant to them and they are aware of. Not posting doesn't mean they don't care.

Crucially, posting "support" on Facebook/ social media means nothing. It's just pixels. If you actually want to do something to fight terrorism, try doing something physically - charities, political movement, joining the Armed Forces, setting up your own journalism business. Stop whinging and do something about it before you preach.

First of all, in response to your last paragraph, in specific 'Stop whining and do something about it before you preach' Im an 18 year old girl, I have my own charity where I provide education, shelter and food to Poor Children mainly street and child labourers in my country. I also have designed my own de-radicalisation program which is set to be taught in schools. Im working with members of parliament to pass legislation on preventing extremist content from being taught in mosques and protection for ethnic minorities, I have put my life on the line to speak out for education in tribal areas of my country and have defied terrorists along with hundreds of students in my school by actively going to school even though ours was one of the top 5 known targeted schools in my country by terrorists.

Second of all, I never said that people should go on the internet searching for terrorism, but rather have more awareness of what goes on, because at the end of the day, terrorism is a vicious cycle. Its a disease, it spreads, except with cancer it can't be stopped, but terrorism can be tackled. Lets look at Afghanistan Pre 9/11, after the US decided to withdraw from Afghanistan leaving it war torn fragmented state, with the Taliban exerting increasing influence day by day. The whole world, particularly the U.S decided to ignore and leave the country a state of years of war, rampant poverty and a patchy society, to be meddled with hard core extremists. What did that lead too? The 9/11 attacks, after which the international community decided that they could no longer turn a deaf ear to Afghanistans situation. What Im saying is that we should have more cohesion as an international community. No one can actually say terrorism is not their problem, because it is. It is a war between every extremist of every religion and moderates of every religion. What do extremists feed on? The complacency of moderates, the fact that they think were not going to do anything, not going to stop them nor intervene. They mobilise, we don't, they form networks and chains of support and we don't. We have to be active because each one of us has a role to play because at the end of the day these are our lives and values that we are fighting for. Just like you, we all want peace, stability and progression in our societies. Im not saying condemn each and every terrorist attack but as an international community we need to be more active in a world where our very existence is threatened by groups who can be tackled if we stand together.

Lastly, for you social media may just be a set of pixels, but for me, its a platform for opportunity and change. Its a place where world powers foreign polices are both constructed and moulded. Where uprisings and protests are given life, such as the 2011 Arab spring and the 2014 Brazil protests. It is a portal through which governments can be pressurised in doing more to fight extremism in their countries. Its a place where together we have a voice that can make a huge difference.

Fed up of people saying: 'what about terrorist attacks in Kenya and Lebanon?'

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