NEWS
Tuesday, November 24, 2015 19
Tragedies
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another Western nation, whereas other news, such
as the suicide bombings that took place in Beirut,
Lebanon and claimed over 50 lives just hours before
Paris, remained unmentioned.
In the aftermath of this event, the same arguments
have arisen on social media and online news platforms
recurrently. There are two emerging sides. One side is
choosing to blatantly politicize this horrific event and
bring to light critiques of the Western world media—
media that seems to pick and choose what events we
should be shocked and terrified about, and ultimately,
which lives deserve our mourning. The other side of
this debate argues that to develop such an assessment
is inherently disrespectful to the victims in Paris, and
that such critiques should wait until France has had
time to mourn their loss.
The terrorist attack that occurred in Paris should
by no means be diminished, nor is it an event that
does not deserve media attention. It is, however, quite
difficult to ignore the fact that there were also bombings in Palestine, civil unrest leading to deaths in
Central African Republic, and rising death tolls as a
result of Burundi’s civil war—to name a few from this
month—that garnered nowhere near the same amount
of media attention nor symbolic support. Even the
bloody Syrian and Iraqi conflict has failed to initiate
a global response of sympathy to the degree that the
“#prayforParis” solidarity has shown. No one changed
the colour of their profile picture after the horrific
attack in a Kenyan university earlier this year.
This terrorist attack is itself a political maneuver allegedly used by the extremist Islamic State
to entrench fear in the Western world, and as a side
effect, to subvert Syrian refugees’ attempts for finding safe housing in Western nations. Political actions
demand political responses. French Prime-Minister
Francois Hollande has already closed the borders
to France and declared that military retaliation is
imminent. Our own Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,
claimed that it was too soon to tell whether Canada’s
foreign policy on welcoming 25,000 Syrian refugees before the year end and the decision to withdraw
fighter jets in the US-led coalition to bomb militants
in Syria and Iraq would remain unchanged.
Calling critics disrespectful for making this a political issue is not only unfounded, it potentially silences
very important critiques of national and social media.
If the media is meant to form a symbiotic relationship
with our culture, these timely politicized critiques are
going to help reform media reporting so that it is truly
reflective of our values as Canadians and Western
world inhabitants. Surely, no one is committed to the
argument that “if people are killed in Paris, it matters
more than if they are killed in Libya, because people
are killed in Libya more often than in Paris”. The frequency of attacks in non-Western nations should not
justify a failure to report just as critically on these
matters. The location of these attacks, the religion of
the victims, and their skin colour, should never be
a factor for determining how extensively a horrific
event will be covered. It is not a matter of “us” versus
“them”, but a matter of universal respect and concern
for human suffering.
If we are committed to universal human rights, we
should be committed to equal and fair media coverage of important events throughout the world and
show sympathy for all fellow earthlings. All human
suffering deserves critical media coverage so that we
can stay informed about the state of the world, learn
more about differing cultures and thus, be better able
to reach out and help to the best of our abilities. This
is especially poignant for us, Western-world dwellers, who are seen by the rest of the world as economic
leaders with boons of resources that we have the
power to redistribute. Part of this power is reflected
in the national media’s selection of what is worthy of
reporting, which is meant to mirror our values. The
recognition of the occurrence of a tragic event is a significant first step for allowing the citizens of a democratic nation, like Canada, to decide where resources
are most needed and what they can do to help.
The modern global society is no longer as divided
by arbitrary borderlines as it used to be: people travel
and relocate more frequently now than ever before. It
has become rare to meet someone who identifies only
with one nationality, especially in Toronto. Due to the
widespread use of technology and the Internet we
are now able to intimately connect with others from
every corner of the world. The borders have blurred.
It is time that we stop being selective about which lost
lives are worth reacting to more strongly than others,
or which color to turn our towers when certain people
are hurt, rather it is time to show unlimited empathy
if we are to truly be respectful of human suffering and
work together on finding solutions. ◆
If you want
to go far.
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on their future: a future with international scope, global clients and limitless possibilities.
If you are that person, you’ve just found where your future lies.
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