The government is bombing schools, churches and hospitals. An average of 300 people die every day. This sounds like news of interest to me; why is it never in the newspapers or on TV?
:rolleyes:
I think it is a bit like road accident deaths - when motorcar usage began to become commonplace after the Second World War, there was public outrage as the number of deaths on the road began to rise. Nowdays, we seldom hear about deaths on the roads - only if they are sharply up or there is a particularly spectacular accident - it seems we have accepted them as a part of daily life. Similarly with countries that are at war (civil or otherwise) - after a while, the killing is so commonplace that we stop taking notice and it stops being newsworthy.
It is still there, but we stop noticing it…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3048145.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2751933.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2621375.stm
When is the last time you remember hearing a news report on famine in Africa?
Grim
From CNN:
Report: 11,000 abducted in Sudan (28 May 2003)
Mystery disease probed in Sudan (14 May 2003)
I think the real question is “Why can Flying Monk not use a search engine?”
Only joking. I think I drank too much caffine this morning.
Cause Africa’s really far away, and things there have to be really big to make our news. Middle East is the exception to this rule due to our interests.
Well,
I read about Sudan everyday…
But then again, I come from the middle east.
But I agree with SmackFu, we tend to focus on issues that relate to us directly…
It’s selfish but that’s how the world works.
Because it’s got a lot of oil, and the U.S. government doesn’t want the public to start demanding that they put pressure on Sudanese government to stop killing people (which it is doing to gain control of the oil-rich regions, by the way).
The BBC would like to disagree, not a big story but they put this up today. Theres a very scary picture accompanying this piece (I really hope that old woman is just sewing or something).
I grew up in the Sudan in Khartoum as a Foreign Service brat in the 60’s. It is a land rich in history and individually the Sudanese are some of the best people you would ever want to meet, but in a larger historical sense it is also a harsh and conflct ridden land where the fault lines for contending political beliefs, tribal affiliations and religions intersect.
Bad news is the default state in the Sudan so more killings and atrocities barely register a blip at this point.