what happened yesterday with the bomb explosions after the Boston Marathon that up til now have claimed three lives and injured well over 100 people [with ten or more amputations that occurred with some of the survivors] was a tragedy.
any time someone is killed it is a tragic thing and more so because this was something that was ruthlessly planned and carried out.
and Facebook knew about it – scrolling down my news feed page there was mention after mention of it with people sending prayers and good wishes to the families of people involved or just stunned that it had happened.
a little bit later i saw online that there had been a huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Iran with 40 people killed [so far] and when i went back to Facebook i saw mention after mention of supper and the latest show and movie news and work stuff and i have yet to see any mention of the earthquake.
in fact when i went to find a link to an article on the earthquake i found this list of news items under the heading ‘World News’:
1. Boston explosions: three dead, no arrests, no claims of responsibility
2. Boston marathon blasts: hunt begins for perpetrators – live updates
3. Carlos Arredondo hailed as hero for Boston Marathon rescue efforts
4. Alaska military policeman jailed for selling secrets to ‘Russian spy’
5. Huge 7.8-magnitude earthquake hits near Iran-Pakistan border
So Boston, Boston, Boston, a guy who was jailed for selling secrets, oh and by the way there was this little earthquake that killed 40 plus people.
please hear me on this. i am not saying that what happened in Boston was not a tragedy, but what i am saying is that what happened in Iran is equally a tragedy. what is important when an event like this happens is to be shocked and to grieve and mourn with those who have lost friends and family and to stand alongside them and to also try and bring justice and stop something like that from ever happening again… but at the same time it is so important to keep some perspective – this is not the most tragic thing happening today…
for just a glimpse of the kind of context i am talking about, here are some facts and figures from The National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, which i don’t see happening in peoples Facebook statuses [stati?] or Twitter feeds day after day… and this is stuff that Americaland with all its resources [even just a fraction of their military budget] could prevent:
Overview of World Hunger
For millions of people, the fight against hunger is a matter of life and death. 841 million people in the world do not have enough food to eat, including 153 million children under the age of 5 years. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ estimates that 6 million children die each year as a result of hunger and malnutrition. There is no other natural or manmade disaster that compares to the magnitude of devastation caused by world hunger.
Who is Hungry?
841 million people suffer from hunger, malnutrition and famine across the world; 550 million hungry people live in Asia and 170 million in sub-saharan Africa. In total, 95% of people experiencing hunger live in developing countries. However, hunger has recently grown in severity in countries like the United States and former Soviet Union countries, mainly as a result of poverty.
The World Bank estimates that by the end of 2010, 89 million more people will be living in extreme poverty– surviving off less than $1.25 per day.
The Extent of the Problem
40,000 children under age five die every day from hunger and preventable diseases. That’s 24 children a minute; equal to three 747’s crashing every hour, every day, all year.
The loss of human life from hunger is greater than if an atomic bomb were to be dropped on a densely populated area every three days.
One in every five people in the world is hungry.
More people have died from hunger in the past two years that were killed in World War I and World War II combined.
70% of childhood deaths are associated with malnutrition and preventable diseases.
70% of people in Asia live in extreme poverty.
Boston marathon bombing – tragedy – 3 killed, a hundred injured
Iran earthquake – 40 plus killed, hundreds injured
40 thousand children under 5 die every day from hunger and preventable diseases – we do nothing. we don’t even take time to grieve, mourn.
surely that would be a good place to start focusing our energy, concern?
Yoh …. Typer thing that kinda makes a person ask himself the question,what difference have you done in the world today.
But also goes to show that having a certain title has benefits. Just cos it took place in America the world has to know and all the mourning has to take place etc. But when a country like Iran faces a tragedy,less people are interested.
Kinda like the Mandela foundations and all these rich foundations for kids. No offense but I don’t understand why they receive so much money while other “small” foundations are not looked at.
The world is messed up Bra Brett.
“i am not saying that what happened in Boston was a tragedy” <– I think you meant to say "was NOT a tragedy"? good thoughts Brett, agree with you although I think the comparison is not 100% straightforward. a bombing which is a malicious murderous act is a bit different to an earthquake which is of course a natural disaster. I totally agree with you though, people died in both cases, and the reporting (from media and social networkers alike) is super unbalanced
eek, good catch, thankx… sneaky little word… and yes they are different but the reaction to the one when the other is a lot more costly is the point as well as all the preventable africa stuff that goes on because of the lifestyle and decisions that americaland chooses to make and keep…
“Americaland” is still amazingly blessed because of our Christian roots and no, we don’t live with daily bombs or epidemic starvation in our every day lives. But we run to the rescue of every nation that experiences tragedy, we are the first ones there, we donate billions of dollars in aid, we send our brave men and women to fight the floods, famines, fires, earthquakes, and evil all over the world. I don’t understand why, when we have our own tragedy, the rest of the world feels we are trite for mourning our dead. How about a little return of compassion and sending prayers instead of criticism when we are hurting?
i don’t think i suggested that Americaland was trite for mourning its dead – what i was suggesting is the intensity and publicity and hugeness of scale of mourning might be out of sync with the specifics of the particular tragedy compared to the daily tragedies of a much greater magnitude that occur daily around the world that barely get a mention here…
as for Americaland rushing off in aid of foreign countries i am sure it does happen in measure but i also question the motivation behind a lot of that – compare Americaland relationship to oil-containing countries like Kuwait and Iraq and how present they were and then look at countries that had nothing to offer in return like Rwanda [where Americaland pulled out as far as i know] and Zimbabwe which were in equal if not greater crisis and there was no presence at all…
i think the general population of this country [certainly not everyone] seem to view this country as the saviour of the world when you have to take an honest look at foreign policy in the broader spectrum to really be able to see what is and isn’t going on… in terms of military spending, if americaland reduced its military spending to an amount that was still something like 5 times the next 5 countries in terms of military size [not sure of my number here but the principle is sound as far as i know] they would be able to eradicate debt from a number of countries as well as solving the medical, educational and one or two other crises right at home…
acknowledgement that this too is a tragedy and send prayers and compassion? absolutely. but that doesn’t stop me from holding a light up to the bigger picture and asking some difficult questions…
the stats and figures of the children dying in africa are listed as “preventable” which is the hugest tragedy… sometimes the lifestyles and comfort we choose require someone else somewhere else to have to suffer as a result we may never be made aware of. unless we stop for a moment to think about it.
It’s funny, because as I watched the news this morning, I watched the coverage with the overwhelming realization that what happened in Boston yesterday is commonplace in other places around the world. I couldn’t help thinking, as I watched, about the people in parts of the Middle East and Africa who never know if their next trip to church, or synagogue, or mosque, or school, or the market, or a wedding, or a funeral will be their last trip ever, because of car bombs and suicide bombs and missile attacks and IEDs and land mines and US drones. What Boston experienced yesterday is every day in other parts of the world. This does not make it less of a tragedy – in fact, I think this realization makes it more so, that there are people, every day, around the world dealing with this kind of violence and pain and grief.
Yep – wrote about the same thing this am here: http://www.thirdculturemama.com/?p=1810
[…] the tragedy and not so tragedy of the Boston Marathon explosions (brettfish.wordpress.com) […]
Good stuff here, bro…and I echo my lovely wife…when you realize that what happened yesterday is “normal” for folks in some countries, makes you stop and think.
I don’t disagree with you Brett. But the message that I’ve seen repeated, throughout facebook and twitter, is “How can you care so much about Boston when there are worse tragedies to care about?” This isn’t a new reaction either. Every single time I see someone mourning, there will be at least one person telling them they are selfish because event Y is so much worse than event x and is being ignored. Obviously the point is a legitimate one. But I think there is a danger that we turn it into a competition, about which tragedy is more deserving of our attention and sadness. Further, I don’t think we’re going to change the culture of people through making them feel bad about caring, even if they’re only caring because its popular right now. If anything, my worry is the more we complain, the less people feel like caring, even about tragedies like the Boston marathon and other, similarly close to home tragedies. I think we’re better served drawing attention to other unfairness-es and tragedies by getting out there and doing something – like you and your wife do already. This post actually isn’t REALLY targeted at you, just making an observation about the many on social network forums either competing for who has the most grief or who’s grief is most noble.
i hear you, but i really don’t think i did that – i think the message is that this is a tragedy, and it is sick and horrible and needs to be mourned… but that it is important for americans to realise [which many of them don’t based on the extent and manner of the reaction] what is happening across the rest of the world and that those are tragedies as well – i think also it can be helpful when you are going through a tragedy to know that others who go through similar or even greater extent of tragedies are standing alongside you and can relate to what you are going through – every post is obviously not relevant for every reader, but i would say there were a lot of people that it was a good prophetic message for.
Like I tried to say, I know that’s not what you were doing here. This was just a thought I had after reading through the varied reactions on the web to the Boston tragedy. And you said you’d love to hear our thoughts, ideas and responses so… 😉 But rest assured, your post was fair and objective, whilst still encouraging people to consider the grief of the rest of the world whilst mourning with those effected in Americaland. Thanks for your prolific posting! Always improves my day.
I don’t really see the value in comparing how horrible an event is in comparison to another horrible event. The implications of a malicious attack on the US simply has greater significance and repercussions on the world in terms of global safety and global economics and thus will feature more in the media. But, bringing greater attention to Boston does not take away from a large earthquake in Iran or from other ongoing complex challenges in the third world. Should we all take more time to reflect and act on ongoing social issues, environmental issues and global crisis? Most definitely but I do not really see how you can compare those things to the media attention a bombing receives. The nature of an ongoing global crisis is much different than that of an sudden terrorist event. Both deserve attention but it will always be packaged differently.
I really love the reactions to this post. I read each one through to the very last word. Perhaps, when you have lived outside this country, you are more sensitized to daily suffering because it is or has been up close and personal. You and I can’t help but thinking about the injustice when this event blows up in a biased Western media, flooding out tragic world events. I personally reacted after reading Nic Kristof’s post after post about Boston, because he must have some roots there. I like what one blogger wrote to me on my similar post about Boston – it affects us because we have been there, we know someone there. That is human nature to sense more pain about the place with which we identify. Even world traveling journalist Nic seems more affected by these three lives because it is in the land he knows and loves. I think that is okay and good to feel this pain, grief and mourning for your own land. The challenge is then to remember in our grief that for many, this is the fear they live in daily…and then to seriously get on our knees and ask our Father what the heck we should do about it, living in our mostly safe and cush, Western world.
right on, Esther. the both of your last lines feels like a good thing. no trivialisation of tragedy intended here but react with open eyes and ultimately arms… don’t know if they’re real or not, but assuming they are, but those pics of kids in Iraq holding signs saying we are mourning with you Boston… feels like the right message coming through there…
If you read American news it wil speak of this tragedy. If you read Iran news it will speak of the earthquake. I suppose it depends on where you’re at.
[…] the tragedy and not so tragedy of the Boston Marathon explosions. […]
[…] the tragedy and not so tragedy of the Boston Marathon explosions (brettfish.wordpress.com) […]