For those hijacking the Boston Thread about Iraq bomb blast please post here

Cody Pomeray

NiallSparky wrote: »

No it doesn't. That's not a fair inference to make.

Yes it does. That is a fair inference to make.

Not sure that argument is going to get us anywhere. Why is it not a fair inference?

Amirani

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

Yes it does. That is a fair inference to make.

Not sure that argument is going to get us anywhere. Why is it not a fair inference?

9/11 got more media coverage than the London or Madrid bombings. Is it fair to assume then that people consider American lives more important than British or Spanish lives? No, scale and context are very important factors to take into account.

Same reason there would probably be more coverage of a pipe bomb explosion in Dublin than in Derry.

Cody Pomeray

NiallSparky wrote: »

9/11 got more media coverage than the London or Madrid bombings. Is it fair to assume then that people consider American lives more important than British or Spanish lives? No, scale and context are very important factors to take into account.

Eh, scale? 3 people have died. About 30 died in bomb attacks in Iraq and 30 more in Somalia on the same day.

What's the "context"?
These were Americans? These belonged to the same "kind of society" as ours? These people were civilised? I can't think of any context that doesn't subjugate the importance of the Somalis and Iraqis based around nationality.

Amirani

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

What's the "context"?
These were Americans? These belonged to the same "kind of society" as ours? These people were civilised? I can't think of any context that doesn't subjugate the importance of the Somalis and Iraqis based around nationality.

Perhaps the fact that there's many similar attacks in Iraq every year while it's extremely rare in the US? Can you not understand that?

I never said they were less important either.

Da Shins Kelly

The media attention given to incidents in the West compared to the East is pretty skewed, to be honest. I think there should be a re-evaluation on that front, but it's unlikely.

Cody Pomeray

NiallSparky wrote: »

Perhaps the fact that there's many similar attacks in Iraq every year while it's extremely rare in the US? Can you not understand that?

There are very rarely explosions in Bolivia.
Do you think this would have made headlines if it had happened in Bolivia?

Can nobody seriously accept that US lives matter more to the media when there's an attack like this? Is this being contested?

Come off it guys. If people are going to come forwards with online tributes and facebook messages and sitting trance-like as Sky News pore over the details for the nth time, at least have the decency to admit the hypocrisy.

Da Shins Kelly

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

There are very rarely explosions in Bolivia.
Do you think this would have made headlines if it had happened in Bolivia?

Can nobody seriously accept that US lives matter more to the media when there's an attack like this? Is this being contested?

Come off it guys. If people are going to come forwards with online tributes and facebook messages and sitting trance-like as Sky News pore over the details for the nth time, at least have the decency to admit the hypocrisy.

I think it has something to do with America running a lot of the media outlets, so they can push these stories no end. Also, the way in which American culture is so aggressively exported leads to people elevating Americans to a more prominent position in their minds than people of other nationalities, I think. People are more familiar with American culture so they sympathize more with them than they do with the strange brown people who think differently to us. But it's a double standard for sure.

smurgen

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

There are very rarely explosions in Bolivia.
Do you think this would have made headlines if it had happened in Bolivia?

Can nobody seriously accept that US lives matter more to the media when there's an attack like this? Is this being contested?

Come off it guys. If people are going to come forwards with online tributes and facebook messages and sitting trance-like as Sky News pore over the details for the nth time, at least have the decency to admit the hypocrisy.

i looked at the daily mail website and the main page is totally dedicated to the boston bombing with graphic detail. there is not one mention on the whole site on the iraqi bombings. even if there was it would just say 30 day in busy market explosion or something like that with scant details.

The truth is the media want to personalise attacks on the west to build our anger while de-personalising attacks in other countries so we no longer care about the on going blood shed there. All attacks like the ones in Boston are equally repulsive no matter where they happen.

G Power

Spanish Harlem wrote: »

The people crying crocodile tears about dead Iraqis are such hypocrites.
They don't give a damn about bombs in Iraq, evidenced by the fact that they never mention it the 364 other days of the year. It simply serves as a useful stick to beat others with today, on the day of the Boston bombings, and to feel morally superior. Get off your high horse.

some of us are actually highlighting the death toll worldwide on a daily basis, as each day goes by more and more do so too

Cody Pomeray

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

I think it has something to do with America running a lot of the media outlets, so they can push these stories no end. Also, the way in which American culture is so aggressively exported leads to people elevating Americans to a more prominent position in their minds than people of other nationalities, I think. People are more familiar with American culture so they sympathize more with them than they do with the strange brown people who think differently to us. But it's a double standard for sure.

Right, and I don't mean to demonize the people who are mourning what is a tragic, horrible event.

But we do need to reflect on why we are focusing on these and not the de-personalised attacks that Smurgen mentioned.

US media only have an audience insofar as we allow them one. Sitting on autopilot in front of the TV and slavishly responding to what these broadcasters deem relevant should not be an option for grown adults who believe in a broader level of human dignity.

Spanish Harlem

@ Cody Pomeray

Why don't you start new threads about dead Somalis if you feel so strongly about it? Stop expecting everybody else to do it. You'll need to create at least 5 every day though to keep up.

People in Ireland are more interested in reading about a terror attack in America. Deal with it. The media cater to this interest. Put a story about a bomb blast in Baghdad on the front cover (the 500th this year) and people won't buy it.

Cody Pomeray

Spanish Harlem wrote: »

@ Cody Pomeray

Why don't you start new threads about dead Somalis if you feel so strongly about it? Stop expecting everybody else to do it.

I'm not starting a thread on Somalis or Iraqis because I didn't start one on Boston, and I don't start a thread on everything I feel strongly about.

I think I've started a thread on 4 topics. I feel strongly about 400 topics, sometimes in one week alone.

People in Ireland are more interested in reading about a terror attack in America.

actually, that was exactly my point. I said:

even if you do try to explain this away it amounts to a justification of some human lives lost to terrorism being more important than other human lost to terrorism on the basis of nationality.

That's fine by a lot of people, maybe even most people. Grand so. I just think it's an observation that should at least get a mention.

Spanish Harlem

If you don't want to read about a terror attack in Boston, don't read about it. Simple as that.

This is what your little self-righteous whine boils down to tbh...

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1352/93/1352935564749.jpg

Jonny7

Scotty # wrote: »

Ronan my point in posting the Iraq news link was to show things a little more in perspective. What happened in Boston was two very minor explosions. Smaller than Norway and Oklahoma bombs. Smaller than grenades I would say. Probably more people shot in Massachusetts every week over drug debts. I would guess almost certainly caused by INTERNAL (ie. American) political motivations. I'll be very surprised if they turn out to be al-Qa'ida. Bombs of this magnitude can be made by anyone with a bit of know how.

But yet the media goes absolutely hysterical. They'll analyse and repeat and analyse and repeat and repeat some more and blow it as big and sensational as they can. People on social sites including Boards.ie get all caught up in the hype and go hysterical too. I think it's shameful that people are so appalled and outraged by a bomb in America - but don't seem to bat an eye lid at far more devastating bombing happening every day of the week in other parts of the world. Just my 2 cents.

It's us, we're the consumer.

Run two 24 hour European news agencies, one covering the Iraq bomb attack and the other the Boston attack - everyone will be watching the Boston attack because it's more "dramatic", because it's a country we identify with, because it's a unique occurence (in a morbid way bombs in Iraq happen very frequently) and because the world doesn't run on some sort of "fairness" system. An event that happens in prominent countries is much more "newsworthy" than something that happens in third world countries.

The only blame lies with ourselves.

I've been checking Iraqi and regional media (not the likes of Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, but smaller more local online news sites) and Boston barely gets a mention.

It's a downside of having free press.

Cody Pomeray

Spanish Harlem wrote: »

If you don't want to read about a terror attack in Boston, don't read about it. Simple as that.

I don't. I switch the channel when it comes on, because there's very little new information.

This thread is to partially to facilitate people who aren't interested in the disproportionate coverage shown to individuals of a certain 'right' nationality or identity relative to even larger scale terrorist destruction of human life elsewhere.

If you don't like that, don't read it.

My name is URL

Spanish Harlem wrote: »

If you don't want to read about a terror attack in Boston, don't read about it. Simple as that.

This is what your little self-righteous whine boils down to tbh...

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1352/93/1352935564749.jpg

You should take your own advice.. why are you posting here in this thread if you've no interest in the subject?

Da Shins Kelly

Spanish Harlem wrote: »

If you don't want to read about a terror attack in Boston, don't read about it. Simple as that.

This is what your little self-righteous whine boils down to tbh...

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1352/93/1352935564749.jpg

Discussing the differences in the media attention given to certain tragedies over others is a valid discussion.

Also, it's possible to be sad about more than one thing at a time. Just because someone's pointing out the obvious preference for West-centred stories in the media doesn't mean that they lack any sympathy for the people affected by what happened in Boston.

Scotty #

Spanish Harlem wrote: »

If you don't want to read about a terror attack in Boston, don't read about it. Simple as that.

This is what your little self-righteous whine boils down to tbh...

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1352/93/1352935564749.jpg

That you in the pic by any chance?

You protested about this topic being discussed the in the Boston thread and now it has it's own thread you are here protesting it.

Jonny7

Also, not to come across as too crass

But this is simply a "protest thread"

Let's be frank, there has been little or no discussion of the multitudes of bombings across Iraq in the recent past

mr_edge_to_you

Jonny7 wrote: »

Let's be frank, there has been little or no discussion of the multitudes of bombings across Iraq in the recent past

Personally I really have little or no interest in Iraq and equally I have little or no interest in 3 unfortunate people who died in Boston.

I heard a lunch time news report and they were all talking about "remembering those who had died" before some of the major international marathons in signs of "solidarity and support". This is over the top stuff.

Mass media gives rise to mass hysteria.

Da Shins Kelly

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

Personally I really have little or no interest in Iraq and equally I have little or no interest in 3 unfortunate people who died in Boston.

I heard a lunch time news report and they were all talking about "remembering those who had died" before some of the major international marathons in signs of "solidarity and support". This is over the top stuff.

Mass media gives rise to mass hysteria.

And furthermore, if the Boston bombings is the work of some homegrown loon, all this hysteria is probably just feeding their appetite for attention.

Equium

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

There are very rarely explosions in Bolivia.
Do you think this would have made headlines if it had happened in Bolivia?

Can nobody seriously accept that US lives matter more to the media when there's an attack like this? Is this being contested?

Come off it guys. If people are going to come forwards with online tributes and facebook messages and sitting trance-like as Sky News pore over the details for the nth time, at least have the decency to admit the hypocrisy.

We're part of the Anglosphere. Of course the media sources here - which are very much influenced by the British and Americans - are going to devote a huge amount of time and debate to a bombing that concerns people whom share a similar cultural heritage and way of life. Same as with the London bombings a few years back - They received much more attention here than the terrorist attacks in Spain beforehand.

I do find it sad, however, when car bombings, etc. in Iraq and Afghanistan are mentioned almost in passing these days. They are in many respects an American and British creation, after all, and the death toll since the invasions of both countries is truly horrific.

Cody Pomeray

Equium wrote: »

We're part of the Anglosphere.

Is "we're part of the anglosphere" not another way of saying "they're our sort of people".

Rastadoyle

also loads died in an Iranian earthquake but there part of the axis arent they!

Blisterman

I think the reason for the disproportionate coverage is quite simple. People see the Boston bombings, a public event in a western looking city, like ones we've all been to and think "that could happen to me".

NuckingFacker

It's like when the popular, good looking girl at school falls and cuts her knee. Everyone oohs, aahs and offers sympathy. When the munter trips and bursts herself, no-one much cares. That's not fair, equitable or proportionate, but it's the way it is. America is the cool kid with the nice clothes. Iraq is the scruffy looking weird kid down the back with a snotty nose and that strange rash.

Madam_X

Cody Pomeray wrote: »

I'm sick to death of this disproportionate coverage. It is all over the media.

This morning I turned on facebook to see a dumb "WE STAND BESIDE OUR AMERICAN ALLIES AT THIS DIFFICULT TIME" meme from the UK being shared and liked.

It's sickening. The media, although visibly dejected by the unremarkable numbers involved, are resorting to all sorts of emotive language like 'battlefield' and "the war zone mile".

And while you cannot blame the US media for donating so much time to this tragic story, strangely enough, it's the non US media which is just as hysterical.

I don't like to bring up the bombs in Somalia and Iraq yesterday, but it is an awkward reality.

In truth, most Irish people will not have known anyone in serious danger yesterday. We can try to explain away our interest in this story as cultural, racial or historic.

Either way, it comes down to a subjugation of importance of humanity and human life to whether the victims are the right nationality.

I'm not sure it's a deliberate ploy by the western media. There's an assumption a lot of the time that the media is really self aware - it's not. Certain media outlets are for sure, but it doesn't apply to the media across the board.
I agree that it seems unfair, but I'm not sure whether subjugation is deliberate, and the reaction to it by other states is bizarre considering there isn't the same reaction to it by those states re atrocities in non western countries. That's what I find more unpalatable than the western media.
It's more to do with what we relate to IMO. And wouldn't an atrocity in the Middle East be more focused on by countries nearby than one in America? As in, I'd imagine it works both ways.

Airitech

There is nothing complicated here. The US and Ireland are both predominatly Christian, white, western democracies. We share a language. There is a huge Irish emigrant community in the US, particularly on the eastern seaboard.

We have massive exposure to US and British media in all forms. We watch American tv and films and listen to American music. A large part of the population have visited the US.

We have none of that with Iraq. People die everyday from guns and car crashes in the US but not from bomb/terrorist attacks. People are killed in bombings everyday in Iraq.

What happened in Boston was exceptional and people who identify with the US will want to know about it. The media just deliver that. They are in the business of selling advertising time so they will give the viewer what they want to keep them tuned in. They will sensationalise it to gain a commercial edge but that has been going on for years.

Cody Pomeray

Madam_X wrote: »

I'm not sure it's a deliberate ploy by the western media.

Well now I wouldn't want to use the word ploy, which hints at an ulterior motive.

The media corporations' goal in life is mostly very simple: shift those papers and don't touch that dial.

The problem is a self-perpetuated exchange between media corporations and the people. To stay in business, media corporations give the people what they want to hear. And by giving the people what they want, they frame and re-enforce our world-views, including our cultural alliances. And so the cycle goes on without challenge.

Occasionally, in the most responsible media groups, dissident voices are employed to break the chain and slowly shift debate.

All I am asking is people play their own part in re-examining their own attitudes as part of the constant cycle of reflection, action and evaluation that must occur in a developed, civilised, responsible society.

Standman

Terrorist attacks on the US have directly lead to the death of countless middle-easterners, the complete reshaping of foreign societies and permanent historical change to vast regions of the world. This is a huge part of why attacks on the US get so much coverage. Also people seem to forget that as long as it does not directly affect you, news is simply another form of entertainment - however distasteful that is to admit.