interesting to see mass media coverage of a bomb attack on a non-European country...

[ellenrr]

raise your hand if you think:
cnn will have non-stop coverage.
facebook users will change their profile picture to a Tunisian flag
news media will have a "Tunisian attack" on the bottom of their screen along with their non-stop coverage.


yes, I know this is "only" 12 people and I know they are security guards, so perhaps not considered 'civilians'

but the main difference is that in America, some lives are worth more than others.
Arab life is worth less.
plain and simple

maybe I should start a mantra "arab lives matter"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/24/us-tunisia-security-idUSKBN0TD24920151124
"Apparent suicide attack on Tunisian presidential guard bus kills 12"

"A bomb exploded on a bus packed with Tunisian presidential guards in the capital Tunis on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people in an attack one source said was probably the work of a suicide bomber.

Ambulances rushed wounded from the scene and security forces closed off streets around Mohamed V Avenue, one of the main streets in Tunis, before the president declared a curfew in the city and imposed a state of emergency nationwide.

It was the third major attack in Tunisia this year, after an Islamist militant killed 38 foreigners at a beach hotel in the resort of Sousse in June, and gunmen killed 21 tourists at the Bardo Museum in Tunis in March. Islamic State claimed both those attacks.

[riversedge]

1. I just hear morning joe demean our President last half hour. I just turned it off.

[BeyondGeography]

2. IOW, people here are bad people because they react like normal people

How many Americans are of Tunisian descent or have spent any time there?

[ellenrr]

3. oh now I get it. If I don't know people of a particular ethnicity...

that equates to
"their lives matter less."

thanks for explaining that.

[BeyondGeography]

4. What's it like

up on that horse you're riding?

[ellenrr]

6. pretty nice, esp. compared to the shit you wallow in

Your inability to concede that peoples' lives are given more or less value (by mainstream society) depending on who they are and where they come from indicates a deep-seated white supremacy.

or maybe it indicates a deep-seated ignorance.

The kind of thinking that leads white/vigilantes/cops to shoot unarmed peaceful protesters.

enjoy your shitty life.

[BeyondGeography]

8. Lol...good answer!

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Why is it you equate 'value' to media time?

It's a big giant world.
Show me their extensive coverage of the Roseburg Oregon shootings. Did they stop their world and rend their garments? If not, perhaps you need to write up a hit piece against them. I look forward to the links.

[Tipperary]

11. Wow, you certainly woke up in a cheery

mood this morning!

[Hiraeth]

15. awesomenest answer ever. you win the internet FOREVER !!

[Igel]

16. There are 7 billion of us and counting.

When you say "their lives matter less" you'd better say "to whom," because that's part of the phrase's meaning.

To you? To me? To somebody?

That nameless kid who died of hunger in the Sub-Saharan 23 seconds ago, did his life matter less than Laquan MacDonald's? If not, when are the protests scheduled for that kid's death--or the deaths of those who died since I started writing this? Unless we want to say he mattered less, I expect the same level of outrage over his death, and the deaths of the many hundreds of others who'll die today because of some injustice or inequality.

Or does that mean that the BLM protesters are mean-spirited and insensitive oafs, only looking out for some people because while the nameless kid is almost certainly black, he (or she) wasn't part of their group and that kid's death from starvation or disease has no bearing on the awesome, great BLM protesters' lives, deciding who's worthy of having their names said and who's not?

Or perhaps we can stop being Judge of mankind and come down off the cross we personally nailed ourselves onto.

That's the problem with primates. We're all part of some group. We value other groups less. We value those that we don't know less. We value those that we don't know about less. We value those whose suffering is unrelated to our own less. If Laquan MacDonald died of dysentery that he could have been treated but who refused treatment and not at the hands of a white cop, protesters wouldn't give a damn about his life because that wouldn't imply any threat for the protesters, wouldn't be a member of their group and reflect injustice across group lines, wouldn't have any bearing on their lives nor would it get their group any power or attention. Hell, if he'd been killed by somebody viewed as in his peer group he'd be mourned and buried by a small group of friends and family and otherwise unnoticed except on section B, page 3 of the Tribune.

The Paris attacks were done by outsiders to Parisian society and are relevant to the US. Many perceive greater cultural connections to Paris, even if it's because we saw "Les Mis" or read Balzac or know about Descartes or Robespierre. Many have been to Paris or want to. The war went to Paris. As with Boko Haram, the Tunisian attacks are local and involve local politics; they affect outside groups only to the extent the outside groups visit Tunisia, in effect going to the war. They are a local matter and will be dealt with locally; that may mean helping provide some intelligence, but no more. They matter more than an attack in, say, Libya, because Tunis is billed as an Arab-Spring success and we can't blame somebody else that's evil incarnate for it quite so easily.

Unless you're ready to give equal time to everybody, there's no point trying to browbeat others by accusing them of being unjust and unfair in how they choose to divide their own attention. However, there's a warning there: If everybody gets equal time, then that means everybody gets perhaps a couple of minutes' attention at the very most and no more before we move on to the next victim, with no time to go back.

[el_bryanto]

12. I don't put much stock in the normal people argument

I mean normal people in America seem to have all sorts of views that are pretty fact challenged and, in many cases, flat out racist.

Bryant

[BeyondGeography]

13. And I don't get excited when Turkish soccer fans boo the Marseillaise

It's normal when an attack on a Western city that many Americans have ties to gets a bigger public reaction than an attack on Tunisia. It's also normal when Turks don't react with the same enthusiasm as fans at Wembley. Some arguments are advanced with nothing more than self-indulgence in mind.

[el_bryanto]

18. So in what sense are you Beyond Geography?

It seems like you are pro-geography.

Bryant

[BeyondGeography]

19. In this sense...a helluva book

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Geography-Western-Against-Wilderness/dp/0813519098

[maxsolomon]

30. Oh, hey! I've read that book

Back in Freshman Year at Northwestern. That was quite the eye opening seminar.

[cui bono]

31. How many making a statement about Paris are of French descent or have spent any time there?

Now, I don't know about this Tunisia bombing, but I do believe that if something is taken credit for by Isis the world may react differently.

[nitpicker]

5. Actually, AP did have an article on this

And Military Times reran it:

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2015/11/24/tunisia-declares-state-of-emergency-after-bus-blast-kills-12/76346710/

[malaise]

7. Oh please

Paris received non-stop coverage for over a week.

[GreatGazoo]

10. Cable news focuses on things that fit the narrative and help them sell the current war.

They also avoid calling terrorism terrorism when it would not sell a war to the American public. A glaring example -- CNN always called the DC Snipers simply "snipers" who "committed murders." Even now, long after a conviction for terrorism, CNN refers to Malvo as "convicted D.C. area sniper."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/03/us/lee-boyd-malvo-fast-facts/

So why not just call a convicted terrorist a terrorist? Likely because it doesn't fit the narrative that "Bush kept us safe (aside from 9/11/01)".

[Waiting For Everyman]

14. Everything always has to be the same or it's somebody's fault.

What PC nonsense!

Do we really think Middle Easterners don't prefer themselves over Westerners? And what in the hell is wrong with that? Do we think there's more media coverage in Tunisia of this bombing or the one in Paris? So are we supposed to be offended that the coverage of this bombing is greater? What the hell does it matter anyway?

We expect everyone to have an identity except us (the West). Well screw that. We don't need to fall for every psychological manipulation that rolls across the internet.

[cwydro]

17. Well said. eom

[Scuba]

20. Check out what terrorist group Boko Harem has been doing in Nigeria.

Nary a drop of ink spent on it in the US.

[maxsolomon]

23. what newspapers are you reading?

because the NYT coverage is extensive and consistent. I see every attack detailed, I know about Chad's involvement, I know about US aid to Camaroon and Nigeria, about troops we've deployed to help. and I've been reading about them for years now.

and if you don't remember #bringbackourgirls, you're living under a rock.

[Scuba]

28. Local coverage of latest Boko Harem is zero, while much smaller Paris attack continues to lead.

[maxsolomon]

29. I ended my Seattle Times subscription when they endorsed GWB in 2000.

Boko Haram attacks get mentioned in a little digest in the world news section, though. Generally.

[ellenrr]

21. a moron who would deny that the mass media value white lives over non-white lives is the same

moron who believes there is no racism in this country.

[BeyondGeography]

22. But that's not all you said in the OP

You berate Facebook users for being more likely to put the Tricolor on their page instead of the Tunisian flag. There are several different people here telling you why that's patently absurd. And they're right, by the way.

[riderinthestorm]

24. The media have their marching orders and that's to get US to war

cant do two things at once.

Have to focus on the real targets - ginning up fear here so the relentless war drums are heard loud and clear.

[maxsolomon]

25. this is an attack on a "government" target

this differs from an attack on a civilian target like the Bataclan Theatre, or the Bardo and Sousse attacks, or the Russian Airliner bombing, or any of the hundreds of attacks on Shiite mosques or markets.

[uppityperson]

34. That too. Nt

[Matrosov]

26. Journalism 101

If a tornado kills 12 people in Alabama, it's breaking news in the US, but who in Tunisia would care or even hear about it?

What is newsworthy and what isn't depends on your outlet's primary audience. For example, Charlie Sheen's HIV was a big deal here for a few days, but I'm sure the news in Nigeria or Malaysia discussed matters that were more important to them.

[daredtowork]

27. Yup

[KamaAina]

32. My LBN thread sank like a rock

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141270700

[Jim Lane]

33. The comparison between Beirut and Paris is interesting

It's addressed in this article: "What Does NY's Lebanese Community Think about the 'Compassion Gap' after Beirut and Paris?"

Until I read this article, I didn't know that three Americans had been killed in the Beirut bombing.