And to think two days ago the thing the world cared the most about was Starbucks cups.
Are you really that surprised that people in the West care more about terrorists killing "us", rather than "poor brown Muslims" killing "each other"?"Guys, guys, jihadists have committed a brutal, highly coordinated terrorist attack against a bunch of civilians!"
"So?"
"No, no, this time the targets were affluent Westerners rather than poor brown Muslims!"
"WHAT? THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! MY HEART GOES OUT TO THE VICTIMS, WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END?! #CRYINGRIGHTNOW"
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The attack might be atypical, but I don't see how that somehow makes it more reprehensible.Quote
I wouldn't say "surprised". Maybe "mildly indignant", though that's still a little too strongly worded. I appreciate that people are outraged about something that isn't completely inane (i.e., coffee cups).Are you really that surprised that people in the West care more about terrorists killing "us", rather than "poor brown Muslims" killing "each other"?
Who's saying it's more reprehensible? That's an implication you attached to the fact that, at this point in time, people are talking about it more. That's's the wrong approach. Activism isn't a competition, and sympathy isn't a zero-sum game. Showing opposition to people getting bombed in Paris doesn't diminish the opposition to people getting bombed in Syria and Iraq.The attack might be atypical, but I don't see how that somehow makes it more reprehensible.
It's just spitting in the face of all of the Syrian and Iraqi victims by telling them their suffering doesn't matter as much as that of Parisians because they were unfortunate enough to be born near the walking, talking stain on the Earth that is known as the Islamic State.
This isn't a criticism, but that's a pretty optimistic perspective. I hope it happens but I'm not sure we'll ever get there.I wish we could look at another human being killed and think that it's as if we're being killed, but we're still a few hundred years or more off from that actually being the case.
I was just having an argument about this kind of thing a couple nights ago. I mentioned that I think Europe as a whole should accept the estimated 4 million Syrian refugees and work to suitably disperse them across the EU in particular (because open borders). My right wing extremist, liberal, and moderate conservative coworkers all disagreed with me, arguing that accepting them would increase terrorism. One of them in particular cited a 2008 study showing that a 1% rise in refugee population increases terrorism in the host country by 18%*. I contended that such a statistic is mostly irrelevant, because turning them away would condemn more of them to death than accepting them in would condemn Europeans to death**. Lives are lives, and outside of people I actually know I hold no biases towards the lives of one group or another.It's just like what others have said, the western world is reacting more to Paris being attacked because it's part of the western world. Paris is "us" so to speak. I'd really appreciate it if all of the earth was "us" but the truth is that this isn't the case. I don't like it and I want it to change, but it's the way things are as of this moment in time.
I wish we could look at another human being killed and think that it's as if we're being killed, but we're still a few hundred years or more off from that actually being the case.
on days like this,Shoulda built a wall.