Lodon Blasts: A British's viewpoint
by Ian from Japan
I, like everyone, was horrified by the terrorist attacks in London. I'd heard a million times that London would suffer terrorism, but I never really thought it would happen. when I heard the news yesterday, I spent all night trying to get information. Today, I spent hours searching the internet for information, and bought several newspapers to read their accounts of the atrocity.
One newspaper however had a revealing editorial. this paper, the Japan times, seems to be a bit late in getting the news. the front page was devoted to London's successful Olympic bid, while the terrorist attack, as if an afterthought, was relegated to just a paragraph pushed pokily into the corner.The editorial in the paper was about iraq's future.
It claimed that daily there are between 400-500 'terrorist' attacks in iraq. I have no way of vouching for the veracity of such claims, yet it seems undeniable yet 'terrorist' attacks are occuring daily. Yet when I see something an article about a bombing in bagdahd, I ignore it. No matter how many people died, I ignore it.
Of course, London's terrorist attack has immediacy because I am a british. Still, the interntional media has been adding to this shock with the amount of covergae it has given it. In one paper I bought today, Japan's Asahi Shimbun, London's terrorist attack was given 7 pages of coverage, yet a bombing in Iraq is lucky if it gets even a mention.
One newspaper however had a revealing editorial. this paper, the Japan times, seems to be a bit late in getting the news. the front page was devoted to London's successful Olympic bid, while the terrorist attack, as if an afterthought, was relegated to just a paragraph pushed pokily into the corner.The editorial in the paper was about iraq's future.
It claimed that daily there are between 400-500 'terrorist' attacks in iraq. I have no way of vouching for the veracity of such claims, yet it seems undeniable yet 'terrorist' attacks are occuring daily. Yet when I see something an article about a bombing in bagdahd, I ignore it. No matter how many people died, I ignore it.
Of course, London's terrorist attack has immediacy because I am a british. Still, the interntional media has been adding to this shock with the amount of covergae it has given it. In one paper I bought today, Japan's Asahi Shimbun, London's terrorist attack was given 7 pages of coverage, yet a bombing in Iraq is lucky if it gets even a mention.
posted by Chenwei @ 4:22 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
exactly, BBC interviewed a muslim resident at Bricklane, just across Liverpool Street station yesterday. He insisted on being anonymous by saying this, "we bombed others' home, it's not a surprise they bombed ours today."
*sign*
The carnage and death coming out of Iraq has become mundane. People will naturally turn off to anything unpleasant when the newness of it has faded. If there were bombings in London everyday for a year, only the people still living there would care.
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