Why The West did not Morn the Recent Terrorist Attack in Somalia Like They Did for the Las Vegas Massacre
 |
| Attack on Somalia Kills 276 Picture by Daily Sabah |
The story of the bomb that went off in Mogadishu, Somalia would be covered by The Guardian and other news media sources. However, the coverage and over all outrage of the West over the tragic event would come no where near close to the coverage and despair that the West showed in response to the Las Vegas Massacre.
This holds true even though more
people died when the truck bomb, which The Guardian said was loaded
by a former soldier in the Somalian army, detonated in the center of Mogadishu, Somalia.
The Las Vegas massacre struck America's heart. Our media interviewed survivors with shocking stories and got to see and feel the pain of people who lost friends and family.
We do trade with Somalia. The
Office of the United States Trade Representative said we export mostly medical
supplies to Somalia and import mostly precious stones and metals from Somalia.
To learn more on what else we trade with Somalia you can click here. The United States has also had some involvement with the
country especially when the country still faces challenges from
Al-Qaeda-aligned and Al-Shabab insurgents.
But besides the Massacre and a botched US-led operation in August, which the guardian has linked to the truck bombing in their fascinating article "Somalia bombing may have been revenge for botched US-led operation", the country is not a prominent story in our media. Because of this human care and emotion only goes so far when a tragedy such as the truck bomb that killed many people in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital is most basically covered by media.
People may see the story and say "oh, that's so sad, that is awful, those poor people." But because they cannot see the people, understand the people, and over all have never heard much about those people, their sympathy only goes so far. How many Americans can say they have friends and family in Somalia? How many Americans visit or vacation in Somalia every year or know what their culture and daily lives are like? What is America's and Europe's relationship with Somalia? The answers to these questions are not well known, and neither are the people of Somalia.
For this to happen we need to have a bigger media presence in these countries. If we establish more media quarters and start picking up more and more personable stories from that country for our audiences, then we will start to feel closer to these people. We would then understand them more and feel a relationship grow all through story. And then maybe in the future, if tragedy were to strike again, we would feel more deeply with them and cover their story with more of the desired fury that is unseen now.
But there are some problems with this. First of all, Somalia and countries like it do not have laws that protect the media. What little media Somalia has complain of the hostile environment they work in. So we could suddenly be sending many journalists into dangerous and hostile environments.
Now if we were to decide to build up more of our own media in these countries it could also make it harder for countries like Somalia to form its own voice and its own media for its people.
Also, more coverage of countries like these could cause even more of a western influence to grow, something that can be both good and bad depending on your views. But most often than not America is being told that it is too involved in other countries affairs and that our western culture too often takes over and squishes out smaller, rich and unique cultures.
Right now the story of Somalia is hard to imagine, hard to feel, and hard to relate to. But more coverage is showing up and changing that. Its slow and the response isn't as emphatic as with Las Vegas, but it is growing and more people are learning about what has happened. Most people here can't point to the country on a map and are having trouble really feeling Somalia's pain, but the story is starting to gain some momentum. Just today AJ +'s video on the Truck bomb started circulating all over Facebook and reaching a huge audience.
Somalia's story is and will continue being heard and that is good, because Somalia's story is important.
Journalists and critics in the future need to remember, numbers aren't everything to people, even if they are numbers depicting a devastating amount of deaths. A large number may or may not compel an audience or inspire media coverage, but a story that feels real and hits close to home and to the heart will.
To
compare the devastating numbers 58 people died and 489 were wounded in the Las Vegas massacre.
In Somalia, according to Somalia’s information minister said The
Guardian, 276 people died and at least 300 people were injured.
Seeing numbers like these has upset some news sites like Al Jazeera and people on twitter. In Al Jazeera's article Double standards: 'Why aren't we all with Somalia?' they quoted the tweets of people who were upset after realizing the difference in coverage of the attack on Somalia and the Las Vegas massacre.
Seeing numbers like these has upset some news sites like Al Jazeera and people on twitter. In Al Jazeera's article Double standards: 'Why aren't we all with Somalia?' they quoted the tweets of people who were upset after realizing the difference in coverage of the attack on Somalia and the Las Vegas massacre.
"The world is unfair; social media can attest to that. 276 died in Somalia
and we aren't doing the same thing we did when it was Las Vegas," Al
Jazeera quoted the tweet by Lagos broadcaster Eke van Victor amongst other
quotes Al Jazeera gave by Stacey Dooley and Eugene Cho.
"We mourn with Somalia. 276 dead. 300 hurt. We confess that our tears are often limited to the West. Forgive us. We long for peace with you," said Eugene Cho.
"You should be as devastated about the sheer loss of life in Somalia, as you were about the senseless killings in Vegas," wrote Stacey Dooley, a British television presenter said Al Jazeera.
In some ways these people are right. What happened in Somalia is devastating and our hearts should feel for them. But whether we should really expect the West to respond as emphatically as it did to the Las Vegas Massacre and whether our media should have covered it as expansively I'm not sure is a really practical or fair demand.
With todays news being so
expansive and the people creating it seeming so far away from the audience, it
can be easy to forget about the human connection involved in news. "We mourn with Somalia. 276 dead. 300 hurt. We confess that our tears are often limited to the West. Forgive us. We long for peace with you," said Eugene Cho.
"You should be as devastated about the sheer loss of life in Somalia, as you were about the senseless killings in Vegas," wrote Stacey Dooley, a British television presenter said Al Jazeera.
In some ways these people are right. What happened in Somalia is devastating and our hearts should feel for them. But whether we should really expect the West to respond as emphatically as it did to the Las Vegas Massacre and whether our media should have covered it as expansively I'm not sure is a really practical or fair demand.
 |
| KTLA- Las Vegas Mourners gather just outside the Huntington Beach Pier on Oct. 8, 2017 |
The Las Vegas massacre struck America's heart. Our media interviewed survivors with shocking stories and got to see and feel the pain of people who lost friends and family.
People from all over the United
States and even in Europe go to Las Vegas and its shows. People in the West go to concerts and shows period, often at the risk of being subjected to some form of terrorist attack.
If people didn't know someone who was there, they had a friend who knew someone there. The massacre was horrible and everyone could relate or see it happening to themselves and the people they love, if it didn't already happen to the people they love.
Amongst the people in the West who could relate we also had those who actually make news in the West being able to personally relate. Because everyone here could feel and truly empathize with this story, it makes sense that there was tons of outrage as well as lots of coverage.
https://twitter.com/EkeVanVictor/status/91985690777454592
On the other hand, we don't know much about Somalia. According to BBC News, over all Somalia's media is very lacking. Its fragmented and partisan media operate in a hostile environment and the main medium is radio. So we don't get much news or visuals from the media in Somalia.
If people didn't know someone who was there, they had a friend who knew someone there. The massacre was horrible and everyone could relate or see it happening to themselves and the people they love, if it didn't already happen to the people they love.
Amongst the people in the West who could relate we also had those who actually make news in the West being able to personally relate. Because everyone here could feel and truly empathize with this story, it makes sense that there was tons of outrage as well as lots of coverage.
https://twitter.com/EkeVanVictor/status/91985690777454592
On the other hand, we don't know much about Somalia. According to BBC News, over all Somalia's media is very lacking. Its fragmented and partisan media operate in a hostile environment and the main medium is radio. So we don't get much news or visuals from the media in Somalia.
 |
| Picture captured by Huffington Post of a celebration in Mogadishu |
But besides the Massacre and a botched US-led operation in August, which the guardian has linked to the truck bombing in their fascinating article "Somalia bombing may have been revenge for botched US-led operation", the country is not a prominent story in our media. Because of this human care and emotion only goes so far when a tragedy such as the truck bomb that killed many people in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital is most basically covered by media.
People may see the story and say "oh, that's so sad, that is awful, those poor people." But because they cannot see the people, understand the people, and over all have never heard much about those people, their sympathy only goes so far. How many Americans can say they have friends and family in Somalia? How many Americans visit or vacation in Somalia every year or know what their culture and daily lives are like? What is America's and Europe's relationship with Somalia? The answers to these questions are not well known, and neither are the people of Somalia.
Even when the story had some coverage and some people in the West did hear about it, they could not completely identify with the people or 'characters' and the 'plot' like they could with the Las Vegas massacre. So the reaction was not as great even though it was as great a tragedy. I don't think this makes the West heartless, just human, despite what those few in outrage at our ever all response think.
Another problem is with the coverage of tragedy, great
tragedy happens all over the world, everyday. In Africa it is estimated that
malnutrition is the underlying cause of 35% to 40% children’s deaths every year. The New York Times said Iranian authorities
arrested 41 people on Friday in connection with the twin
terrorist attacks in Tehran this week.
Just recently The Guardian said "More than 160,000 of Myanmar’s 1.1
million ethnic Rohingya minority have fled to Bangladesh,
bringing with them stories that they say describe ethnic cleansing" in an
article they posted just one month ago.
Tragedy is happening everywhere and all the time and unless its close to home and even sometimes when it is, we are easily desensitized to it because we really do see an overloading of it in our media.
 |
| Muslim Rohingya minority fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh in boats, photo by AP News |
Even though American and western
media is expansive, it is not all expansive, and it serves the interest of its
readers in the West. It does this even though it also reaches audiences much further
than the West.
Suppose it is western media's job to bring us many stories from countries that do not have enough of a prominent media to make their own, or send them to us. In this case we already know that we need the stories to be made in a way that audiences here can really feel and empathize with. For this to happen we need to have a bigger media presence in these countries. If we establish more media quarters and start picking up more and more personable stories from that country for our audiences, then we will start to feel closer to these people. We would then understand them more and feel a relationship grow all through story. And then maybe in the future, if tragedy were to strike again, we would feel more deeply with them and cover their story with more of the desired fury that is unseen now.
But there are some problems with this. First of all, Somalia and countries like it do not have laws that protect the media. What little media Somalia has complain of the hostile environment they work in. So we could suddenly be sending many journalists into dangerous and hostile environments.
Now if we were to decide to build up more of our own media in these countries it could also make it harder for countries like Somalia to form its own voice and its own media for its people.
Also, more coverage of countries like these could cause even more of a western influence to grow, something that can be both good and bad depending on your views. But most often than not America is being told that it is too involved in other countries affairs and that our western culture too often takes over and squishes out smaller, rich and unique cultures.
Right now the story of Somalia is hard to imagine, hard to feel, and hard to relate to. But more coverage is showing up and changing that. Its slow and the response isn't as emphatic as with Las Vegas, but it is growing and more people are learning about what has happened. Most people here can't point to the country on a map and are having trouble really feeling Somalia's pain, but the story is starting to gain some momentum. Just today AJ +'s video on the Truck bomb started circulating all over Facebook and reaching a huge audience.
Somalia's story is and will continue being heard and that is good, because Somalia's story is important.
Journalists and critics in the future need to remember, numbers aren't everything to people, even if they are numbers depicting a devastating amount of deaths. A large number may or may not compel an audience or inspire media coverage, but a story that feels real and hits close to home and to the heart will.
httphttps://twitter.com/EkeVanVictor/status/919856907774545920s://twitter.com/EkeVanVictor/status/919856907774545920"The
Comments
Post a Comment