All Lives Are Equal, but Some Are More Equal than Others

[Altfish]

Isn't there an element of the old adage about press coverage, sorry, I don't know the exact wording but...

A murder on my street gets 10-page plus a supplement
A murder in my town gets 6-pages
A murder in my county gets 2-pages
A murder in my country gets 1/2 page
A murder in my continent gets a paragraph
A murder elsewhere may get a line.

 

[Flankerl]

Isn't there an element of the old adage about press coverage, sorry, I don't know the exact wording but...

A murder on my street gets 10-page plus a supplement
A murder in my town gets 6-pages
A murder in my county gets 2-pages
A murder in my country gets 1/2 page
A murder in my continent gets a paragraph
A murder elsewhere may get a line.

Yes but it also depends how often something happens.
And its just that a terrorist attack is more frequent in Lebanon or Iraq (let's not even mention Subsaharan Africa because the people from the Middle East moaning about no coverage of Beirut also don't give a crap when something happens in Subsaharan Africa) than for example France.

Do you think human biology is human destiny?

I don't know. I also wouldn't call it Biology.

 

[Banjankri]

"All Lives Are Equal"

That is simply not true.

 

[Revoltingest]

"All Lives Are Equal"

That is simply not true.

It isn't even false.

 

[Banjankri]

It's a belief.

 

[Revoltingest]

It's a belief.

Exactly.
I don't even see that "equal" applies, except as a legal premise.

 

[Demonslayer]

Everyone does it. I highly doubt people in Somalia, India or China care as much about the attacks in Paris as we in the West do.

This. For a humerous yet poignant view of this idea, check out the concept of the "monkeysphere."

https://awkwardmayhem.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/what-is-the-monkeysphere-by-david-wong/

 

[Lyndon]

Very well said, my sentiments exactly, My Best friend who's Lebanese just posted a Lebanese flag on facebook which looks just like the French flag with a Lebanese cedar tree added, I'm currently thinking about making it my profile picture, and if I even have the tech know how to possibly do that!!

Actually I found out its not the current Lebanese flag which is red and white stripes with green tree, but rather the pre 1943 flag when Lebanon was a French protectorate. And that my friend is also why so many Lebanese speak French.

 

[LittlePinky82]

It's true. Even with the Syrian people they're dealing with the horrors of ISIS all the time and what coverage has been told about it in the US press? I find out about things from more "independent" media outlets like Democracy Now and a channel on youtube called The Real News Network who interviews people involved in these type of conflicts where the media never talks about.

 

[psychoslice]

We are all equal, we are all one with the cosmos, the only thing that makes it seem not equal is our tiny little brains.

 

[Debater Slayer]

[...] let's not even mention Subsaharan Africa because the people from the Middle East moaning about no coverage of Beirut also don't give a crap when something happens in Subsaharan Africa

How do you know whether or not I care about the lives of people in Sub-Saharan Africa or anywhere else? I may not start a thread about it here, but that doesn't mean I don't care. I find the assumption unwarranted.

 

[Flankerl]

Perhaps you shouldn't think that its about you?

The matter of fact remains that no one actually cares about Subsaharan Africa. Otherwise Subsaharan Africa would be a far different place.

 

[MARCELLO]

Perhaps you shouldn't think that its about you?

The matter of fact remains that no one actually cares about Subsaharan Africa. Otherwise Subsaharan Africa would be a far different place.

There are more than 5 million whites living in subsahara,I was one of them too. I don't think your media would not care about 5 million whites .

Really,what can you know what's happening over there? I lived there. I should tell your parents to ban internet for you.

 

[Flankerl]

Afrikaaner or British ancestry? Probably know more about the Region than you want me to.
And yes no one here cares about Boers or other whites in South Africa. Might be a shock to you.

Oh and I don't live with my parents.

 

[MARCELLO]

Afrikaaner or British ancestry? Probably know more about the Region than you want me to.
And yes no one here cares about Boers or other whites in South Africa. Might be a shock to you.

Oh and I don't live with my parents.

I have never ever seen that much extreme racism coming from whites against blacks rather than southern part of africa in my life.They are proud to say they are racist every minute. There is no word to express racism over there although it is officially banned and affirmative action is applied.

When I walked fastly on sidewalks in Joburg ,the blacks were running away in order to make enough space me. They were afraid of wearing a hat on them while my presence at office. I simply had one name and that is was '' boss'' or ''master''. Especially the boers, they warned me thousands of times that If I continued to value blacks they would not even say hello to me.

 

[Lyndon]

That's been my experience with South Africans, very racist people, and not even ashamed of it, at least in America they say "I have black friends" to try and hide their racism.

 

[Flankerl]

I have never ever seen that much extreme racism coming from whites against blacks rather than southern part of africa in my life.They are proud to say they are racist every minute. There is no word to express racism over there although it is officially banned and affirmative action is applied.

When I walked fastly on sidewalks in Joburg ,the blacks were running away in order to make enough space me. They were afraid of wearing a hat on them while my presence at office. I simply had one name and that is was '' boss'' or ''master''. Especially the boers, they warned me thousands of times that If I continued to value blacks they would not even say hello to me.

Well you should feel okay in post-Apartheid South Africa because now its completely reversed.

 

[Lyndon]

I believe Marcello is referring to post apartheid SA.

 

[MARCELLO]

I believe Marcello is referring to post apartheid SA.

Yes I do. Nothing is completely reversed,either. I really do not understand people,they may claim rampant ideas about where they did not step in once but I lived for long times.

Yes the crime over there is incredible,cannot walk on the street when it is dark but that's not only for whites,blacks cannot,either.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Apparently, many media outlets believe that some lives are more equal than others. Why am I saying this? Well, let's take a look at a tragedy that took place two days ago:



Full article here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34795797

While the incident has been covered by some media outlets (obviously, since we know about it), it has gotten nowhere near enough coverage, in my opinion. Unlike the Paris attacks, there has been no international condemnation of it. There haven't been any custom profile pictures made by Facebook to mourn the deaths of innocents resulting from the attack. The latter doesn't mean much, but the former is certainly an eye-opener. It is as if the lives of people in third-world countries were cheaper than those of people in developed countries.

There seems to be an almost-tacit consensus among the media that tragedies taking place in third-world countries are a normal, expected occurrence and so there is no need to bat much of an eye. The frequency of such incidents in unstable third-world countries has desensitized a lot of people to the killings of innocent people that periodically happen there. I think that is a very real and worrying trend.

If mass media is not going to care about the lives of innocent people in third-world countries just because of where those people happen to have been born, we can still care. We can be the alternative media.

Ah, just like when one says "black lives matter," instead of saying "all lives matter."