On the 16th of April, 2007, a young man named Cho Seung-Hui, of South Korean origin decided to kill 32 innocent people at Virginia Tech and then killed himself, in an act which he compared that to the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. In the aftermath of the massacre , as the nation mourned a fresh springtime crop of young lives cut short by a psychopath's bullets, President George Bush and those vying for his job offered their prayers and condolences. The World, stuck to CNN and NBC, keenly follows developments on the worst shootout ever to hit Uncle Sam.
A couple of days later, on the 18th of April, 2007, on a completely different time zone, Five bombs exploded in and around Iraq's capital yesterday, killing at least 187 people and injuring more than 220. Many of the victims included construction workers repairing buildings damaged in the previous bombing and rush-hour commuters lining up at a bus depot, waiting for rides home. Unfortunately for these victims, the World was too busy following the Virginia Tech Massacre.
The past week, has indeed gripped the World with shock and grief. Not too many can relate to what the victim´s families are going through. May God give them the strength to recover from their tragic loss and hopefully, in time, life would come back to normal.
However, the question I am trying to find an answer to is that, ¨Does life have more value in the West, than in under developed and developing nations? And if so, Why? ¨ Great leaders of the World have offered humble words of condolence and shock for the families of those killed at Virginia Tech, but what about the 6 times more number of families in Baghdad? More than half the content on media channels and websites this week have been dedicated to the story of the massacre created by a young teenager and the advertising campaign he sent to a new channel. To get information on the Baghdad blasts, i literally had to Google it earlier today. The events in the past week or so makes it almost as easy to say that Society in general has different parameters for the value of life, and that the value is determined by the land or economic background you come from. When people say all human beings are alike and there shall be no discrimination, do they actually follow it?
Is this the society you want to grow up in? And if yes, then what is the Value of Your Life?
May God Bless the Souls of all the innocent people killed at Virginia Tech and in Baghdad.
4 comments:
There is simplicity combined with a natural, yet trained flow of thoughts to your writings. And this one is poignant without being soppy and melodramatic.
Its unbelievable that the news channels do not cover things in Iraq.
"When people say all human beings are alike and there shall be no discrimination, do they actually follow it?"
Well written Mo !
Mo, i think the point is not that iraqi lives are worth less. I think it boils down to the fact that we lack access to Iraqi media. Remember that CNN and NBC are primarily american channels.
I think another point is that massacres in Iraq are now so common that they aren't news any more. This in itself is a VERY sad remark about how we value human life in general.
On another note, a psychological theory being propagated is that people tend to go numb when faced with mass tragedies - its called number fatigue. Basically, since we cannot relate to the "individuals" who died, we seem not to mind it as much. This situation would naturally be reversed if someone close to us was involved.
Post a Comment