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logosoco

(3,209 posts)
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 09:57 AM Sep 2014

Can anyone help me understand...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29256443


there have been 8 health workers killed in Guinea, and it does not even seem to make the top stories of the news (granted I don't watch cable or local news, so I could be wrong). But ISIL kills journalists and many people are yelling for war.

I don't get it. I understand that the health care workers were killed by misinformed villagers and ISIL seems to have more structure and are openly saying they want to kill more. Ebola is killing a lot of people, and the workers are there to help them and stop the spread of the disease. We can do a lot to learn more about how ebola starts and is spread and can be prevented, and Obama has tried to send as much funding as he could.

I just don't understand how some people can be so ready to bang the drums of war in the middle east but don't seem to care much about a deadly thing that we could actually stop.
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logosoco

(3,209 posts)
5. I guess not! They need something we can exploit them for if they are going to get our help!
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 10:22 AM
Sep 2014

I forgot...follow the money!

unblock

(54,115 posts)
7. this. plus, we are overly obsessed with particular kinds of threats.
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 10:32 AM
Sep 2014

we obsess over airplane fatalities even long after we've made air travel even safer than sleeping in your own bed, certainly far safer than the car trip to the airport.

just think how obsessed about 9/11 we remain. there were 800,000,000 air passengers that year on u.s. flights. 246 of them died on 9/11. if there were *ten* 9/11-scale attacks *every single day for an entire year*, your odds of dying in one of those attacks would be roughly one-tenth of one percent. ok, two-tenths if you made it a round-trip.


and we care more about evil humans than about horrific viruses. perhaps because most people haven't a clue as to how to fight a virus.

Orrex

(64,004 posts)
2. The murdered journalists fit more closely into the "Us vs. Them" narrative
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 10:10 AM
Sep 2014

The MIC & MSM haven't spent years crafting a narrative about how the evil-doers in Guinea hate our freedom and want to destroy America, so when non-American health workers are killed their deaths are an isolated incident.

But when an American journalist is killed by a declared enemy of The Empire? Well shit! That's tailor-made to fit the recognized storyline, so the media can run with it without having to bother with facts or research or background.


IMO it's about as simple as that, sadly.

logosoco

(3,209 posts)
4. That is sad and simple.
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 10:20 AM
Sep 2014

And stupid! I guess I forgot what team I was on for even questioning it! lol

surrealAmerican

(11,477 posts)
3. The media is more inclined to cover ...
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 10:12 AM
Sep 2014

... the violent deaths of members of the media. ISIL knows this, and is effectively playing for media attention.

FSogol

(46,372 posts)
6. Do the misinformed villiagers have a lot of sophisticated weaponry and plans to spread
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 10:26 AM
Sep 2014

a Caliphate across the borders of several countries? Are they using videos to recruit from a variety of nations? Are they hoping to spread attacks to Australia, the US, and the UK?

Want to stop a "deadly thing"? Get people to stop texting and driving.

logosoco

(3,209 posts)
8. Well, I am doing what I can on the texting and driving front,
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 10:34 AM
Sep 2014

but it is limited to myself, my family members and the people I give an evil stare or a wag of my finger to at stop signs.

And I guess if the people there had the resources for sophisticated things, they would probably start at getting electrical power to every one. And then, who knows. I am not really sure what level their religion plays in these attacks. Maybe more than I am seeing. Or maybe they are just afraid and they don't understand how people from the outside are trying to help and not change things.

snagglepuss

(12,704 posts)
9. Given that Sierra Leone and Guinea are predominently Muslim help me to
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 07:17 PM
Sep 2014

understand why we don't hear of massive donations of money and health volunteers from the oil rich Islamic countries? Have these countries made undertaken any efforts to fight the epidemic?

logosoco

(3,209 posts)
10. Haven't heard any of that.
Fri Sep 19, 2014, 09:44 PM
Sep 2014

Maybe they are praying? Or maybe they are like the fundamentalists here and they think the epidemic is a message from god.

No amount of money is really going to help if people don't stop and think "science!"

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