Posted by Benjamin on: 12.14.2007 /
H/T Claudio.
Waddya think? Sure got me!
Here’s another question. Why does the death of just a few people by violent means make the *very* top of the headlines all week long when it happens in the U.S., but the death of *lots* of people by violent means in a U.S. militarily occupied nation all week long does *not* even make the 2nd or 3rd page of headlines? Does your answer to this question relate to your reaction to the video? Why/How?
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Comment by: Nancy
1 12/14/07 1:34 AM | Comment Link |The sad thing is that if that boy was killed it might not make the news, especially if he was a bit older. We have had almost 800 homicides just in Los Angeles County this year and very few of these actually make it into the news. The ones in the news are usually the white or affluent or white/affluent or very young. So if the news media cannot manage to cover death in our own cities how can we expect them to cover it elsewhere. Sadly I think that some lives just don’t seem to be as valuable as others in our culture.
Comment by: joe
2 12/14/07 6:12 AM | Comment Link |Maybe it is just because we’re all sick, B.
Comment by: Helen
3 12/14/07 6:25 AM | Comment Link |That’s a very powerful video, Benjamin.
Christianity Today’s senior managing editor Mark Galli refers to the Colorado shootings as ‘mass murder’.
That seems very overblown to me, tragic as they are.
Comment by: benjamin ady
4 12/14/07 12:14 PM | Comment Link |Helen, Nancy,
You two are touching on something important here, methinks. We *do*, of course, consider the “other” less human than ourselves. It’s a … I hesitate to say “human”, but it’s a … very normal tendency among people.
However, it seems to me that we Americans have perfected the art. Kill one of “us”–it’s murder. Kill five of “us”–it’s “mass murder”.
Kill 80,000 of “them”. Hell, our elected representatives will continue to provide 100’s of billions of dollars to continue the project.
Comment by: Eliza
5 12/15/07 6:45 PM | Comment Link |Wow. My heart was in my throat when the last picture popped up, picturing what was about to happen (thankfully we didn’t have to see it, but the message is clear).