… Do not hundreds of people die everyday ? Are not hundreds of people killed in Kashmir, in the middle east – while we sleep cosily in our houses ? Do not thousands die in Africa out of hunger while we eat our Mcdonald burgers ?Why are these deaths mere statistics to us – while the 32 who died in Virginia Tech hailed as heroes ?
Suraj proposes a reason for why the Virginia Tech killings are “being blown out of proportion”.
For what it’s worth, I don’t agree with him. The response to a tragedy is often shaped by the quantity and quality of attention the media gives to it. That doesn’t mean any tragedy is intrinsically any less or any more than any other. When something bad happens, we can only react to that incident … I don’t see the point in comparing it with other violent acts.
And honestly, its difficult to figure out how we humans respond to tragedies in different ways. I was very disturbed by the VT killings and I’ve been following developments closely – but it was Anna’s moving tribute to Minal Panchal that finally drove me to tears. Am I to be criticized for not crying for the other victims?
Comments
6 comments. Leave your comment »
Jenny
Apr 18th, 2007 at 3:07 pm | #
What a thoughtful response – I agree with you. It would be unfair to downplay the true grief that this campus and the nation are truly feeling this week. I’ve found the images of this grief moving (here’s a link to a video of the Tuesday night vigil):
http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/215518/US
Media coverage certainly impacts public reaction and opinion, for better or worse.
SurAj
Apr 18th, 2007 at 3:38 pm | #
No intention to downplay anything. I believe every life is precious.
I just posed one simple question – why does the world hail a few and turns a blind eye to the rest ?
In my opinion – each life is just as important.
Jenny
Apr 19th, 2007 at 9:36 am | #
It’s an important point – over 200 people were killed in Baghdad over the last few days, and the media has barely covered it. The harsh truth is that the media coverage often determines how this country reacts (or doesn’t). The question you pose is an important one, and I have heard many asking it in the past days.
VT Hokie
Apr 19th, 2007 at 11:35 pm | #
I go to Virginia Tech, and I almost think that Suraj’s point about the importance of all life is a good one. I think it also prove the point that YES, it is wrong to grieve over the life of one person over others. I have received several scraps on orkut from people, who I do not know, saying “sorry to hear about what happened, did any Indian students die?”
Does it matter if they were Indian, or Black, or White, or Hispanic? They were all Hokies, and the world has lost so many bright and promising futures.
sri
Apr 20th, 2007 at 12:10 am | #
Without being judgmental or making a moral issue out of it.. I think what the post says is fundamentally true. People are selfish and discriminative in their empathies.
The simple reason is that we are all mere mortals with bounded capacities for empathy and care. And we tend to use it more for people whom we associate with.
A similar debate had started when Orissa was hit by a super cyclone in 1999 and there was hardly any media coverage about it in the Western media. But today, thanks to several initiatives, National Geographic has made a pretty graphic documentary on what happened in Orissa. Today I can really feel what those people went through and how they were caught totally unawares. The super cyclone had brought in a huge tidal surge causing destruction comparable to the 2004 tsunami.
bharath
Apr 20th, 2007 at 11:45 am | #
if something like this happens in your locality and your locality is say not disturbed by 1000s of malarial deaths every year and you live comfortably then this will disturb you and this will be there in the papers.
depending on how important or interesting your community is to the nation at large it will hit the national newspapers. and then depending on how influential and interest the country is, this will hit the international news.
so the question “is this news?” depends on to whom it happens and are they important.
I won’t blame the media. but I do wish they will move on to something else and let the people grieve in private.