~Do I follow my instincts blindly?~

[flyboy_fox]

I wasn't sure if I should post this... it's gonna be a little controversial. But it's how I feel, so I'm just gonna out with it.

The Virginia Tech shooting. It's all over the news. It's the headlines on every newspaper, the words on everyone's lips, and my friends page is littered with tributes. The shooting was a huge tragedy, that much is certain. I will not dispute this. It was a TERRIBLE thing to happen. Horrific, unprecedented, extreme. I feel deeply for those affected. Something like this should not happen to ANYONE. But (and here's where I get controversial), it's NOT the most terrible thing to happen this decade, this year, even this week.

Here's what bothers me. The western world is acting like the Virginia tragedy is the worst thing to happen in a long time. Everyone's pouring their hearts out in sympathy, sorrow, grief. Most of us didn't know anyone who went there, but still the tributes pour in, everyone talks about the meaningless deaths, everyone talks about how horrific it is and how they can't believe such a thing would happen. They talk this way because this kind of thing DOESN'T happen often in the western world. But because of that, the western world elevates this disaster above all the other tragedies in the world.

Tell me, the people who posted their condolences and their horror and their wishes to the families of the deceased... do they also do this for the families of all the innocents who die EVERY DAY in places like Baghdad and Basra? Why are American (or British, if the tables had been reversed) lives more worth grieving over? I can understand why there is more shock over such a thing happening in America rather than, say, Iraq. But when everyone who doesn't even personally know the victims start waxing lyrical about how awful these deaths are and how terrible it must be for the families and how their hearts go out to them... I just think, why doesn't anyone openly react this way to all the stories of car-bombs and backpacks exploding in city streets in the Middle East, killing dozens and sometimes hundreds every single day? The people who die in market places and highstreets in those wartorn countries are just as innocent as Virginia Tech's students. They are parents, they are children, they are ordinary people who have committed no crime, and yet are killed in the prime of their lives by a maniac with an agenda. WHY DOES THIS NOT TUG AT PEOPLE'S HEARTSTRINGS AS MUCH?

And it's not just that it happened in America and so Americans are grieving more. Because the UK is reacting just as strongly. All our papers had the same headline. Radio stations. TV. Everyone talking about it here, like it's the worst thing they've ever heard, even though every day there's a new story of violence and deaths in the Middle East.

I guess maybe we're just immune to death in the Middle East now. We can only feel grief and sorrow and sympathy if it happens to one of our own or in a 'civilised' country.

Know what made me sick last week? A car bomb went off in Basra. It killed more than 60 people. All innocent bystanders in a marketplace. It wasn't even headline news. What was the UK headline that day? PRINCE WILLIAM BREAKS UP WITH FIANCÉE KATE MIDDLETON. What the FUCK?

Let me say this now, My heart DOES go out to all those who were affected by the Virginia Tech. But in this moment, while everyone's hearts and minds are focussed on that tragedy, I'd like to spare a moment to think about those who live every day not knowing where the next bomb will go off in the street, in the marketplace, in a carpark. To all the families torn apart by this unholy war. To all the innocents who are dying in the most horrific ways EVERY SINGLE DAY. And if I believed in God, I would thank him for the fact that most of us here live in places safe enough that we ARE shocked by events like the Virginia massacre.

No innocent death is worth more than any other innocent death. If we're going to cry for those who died in the Virginia shootings, let's also cry for those who died in horrific circumstances all across the world that same day. If our hearts are going to reach out to the Virginia families, why can't we also spare a few words for those families outside of America whose lives have been destroyed just as badly? Why should we single out these few people as deserving of our direct prayers and hopes and feelings? Maybe we should just cry for humanity.

My thoughts go out to every innocent who died on the day of the Virginia massacre, across the world. And to every innocent who died on all the other days that didn't make headline news. Every day, somebody's 'someone' isn't coming home. Every death is as tragic as the ones in the headline news. Every death is equally worth mourning. Innocents die EVERY SINGLE DAY. No one mentions them. No one posts LJ posts commemorating them. No one seems to give them the time of day.

I will.

Flames? :\

Comments

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

*Cough*

Wow, Sull, you totally completely utterly missed the point XD

I'm not "letting what other people say get to [me]", nor am I in any way feeling "pressured to write" about anything.

Also, the hypocrisy in the first line of your thread kinda pissed me off too much to read the rest. You say "everyone has the right to their own opinion", yet you also wonder why I created this post. Let me answer that. I created it because it is MY opinion, just as valid as everyone else's.

Deal, y'know. I don't feel the same way as you. I don't like the media reaction or the public reaction. That's my opinion and I will write about it in my LJ just like you or others may write about stuff in yours.

I might've paid attention to the rest of that essay you wrote if you hadn't totally patronised me within the first couple of sentences x.o

[sullmaster.livejournal.com]

So you judged me by my first line? And I agreed with ya, you're entitled to do what you want, but you clearly missed that too. I never condemned you for anything, where are you getting this from?