Boston Bombing - some perspective

It's indeed tragic what's happened in Boston, and all those affected deserve our sympathies and thoughts.

Aside from the actual tragedy, there's something else that I find disturbing about it all. Perhaps it's because it was a bomb that there's been given so much attention to the tragedy in our media here? I dunno. I've been pretty amazed however with the media saturation of the event here in Australia. Yes we're a very close US ally, and yes lots of US news comes our way because of the close ties we have with the US. But cripes, a bomb killing three people and injuring over 150 on the other side of the world is perhaps not deserving of some of the over the top media coverage?

Turns out I'm not the only one to ask this question. It's also being asked within the US itself. This is Andrea Ayers-Deets in Chicago, a very well written piece:

As news of the Boston Marathon explosions broke most, if not all, of our media coverage was disrupted as they broadcast live developments. As news trickled in and a clearer picture was available we were able to call it what it is, a bombing. Three people have lost their lives and over 150 people were injured, many seriously. We mourn this loss of life. This morning, I read of another bombing. Thirty-three people killed, 160 wounded in a series of morning explosions that went off in numerous cities. This too happened on April 15, but there was significantly limited coverage of this story. Why? Because these bombings happened in Iraq. more 

In fact I've seen nothing at all in the media here about the Iraq bombs, although I've not been digging. Instead the online main stream media screams headline after headline from the screen about the Boston bombings. So much so that I found it a bit strange. I mean we have a very multi-cultural society here in Australia, it's not like Middle East people living here wouldn't be interested.

He goes on:

Intolerance, violence, and hatred is perpetuated by the differences we create. How many degrees of separation can I put in between myself and everyone else? If I remove myself far enough from someone, do they cease to matter as much, or at all? As we mourn the loss of life in Boston and the terrible carnage that only a intolerance and hatred can breed, we must too mourn the loss of life that is caused by hatred and intolerance everywhere. Every time it happens, if I do not feel a significant sense of loss or sadness, what does that actually end up saying about me—about all of us? I don’t know. I would hate to think that it meant I was becoming used to seeing this carnage—used to seeing the horrific look on faces just because they didn’t resemble my own.

The Boston Marathon bombing brings us closer to the reality that so many experience every single day. Now is the time to reject violence everywhere. Now is the time to reject intolerance everywhere. We are all finite beings. We must see that the death of an eight-year-old little boy is a tragedy in Iraq, in America—anywhere.

Is this too idealist for the way the real world works? I don't know. Does that matter? Does that mean we shouldn't at least try to better understand one another? Isn't that what people who commit acts of violence prey upon? Our continued willingness to view one another with skepticism because they might look, think, act differently? Well, I reject that notion, and so should you because we can do more. We can certainly do better than this. more

Yes I totally agree. 

Perhaps I should add that the most stark contrast is with Pakistan. Where US drones fly into Pakistan airspace and kill people in an undeclared war. There's virtually no media coverage of that at all.

In public statements, the US states that there have been “no” or “single digit” civilian casualties.”[2] It is difficult to obtain data on strike casualties because of US efforts to shield the drone program from democratic accountability, compounded by the obstacles to independent investigation of strikes in North Waziristan. The best currently available public aggregate data on drone strikes are provided by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), an independent journalist organization. TBIJ reports that from June 2004 through mid-September 2012, available data indicate that drone strikes killed 2,562-3,325 people in Pakistan, of whom 474-881 were civilians, including 176 children.[3] TBIJ reports that these strikes also injured an additional 1,228-1,362 individuals. Where media accounts do report civilian casualties, rarely is any information provided about the victims or the communities they leave behind. This report includes the harrowing narratives of many survivors, witnesses, and family members who provided evidence of civilian injuries and deaths in drone strikes to our research team. It also presents detailed accounts of three separate strikes, for which there is evidence of civilian deaths and injuries, including a March 2011 strike on a meeting of tribal elders that killed some 40 individuals. more