The world is still coming to grips with the heinous terrorist attack in Paris, hundreds of innocents lost their lives, many more orphaned. For someone like me who has been a firsthand witness of several bomb attacks in Delhi, the July 7 multiple bomb attacks in Mumbai Locals and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the scene is all too familiar. People from world across people have come out of their cocoons, shed their inhibitions and supported the war against terrorism.
France has gone ahead and bombed the ISIS capital of Raqqa in retaliation and world across including the G-20 summit seems to be overshadowed by the perils of terrorism and ways to handle it. But amidst all of this noise, the Times headline struck like a thorn, “Beirut Wonders If Some Terror Attacks Mean More Than Others.” Yes indeed the night when Paris succumbed to its worst nightmares and shocked the world, there are many across the world in Lebanon, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Yemen, Cameroon, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey which have been under continuous attacks from the ISIS for the better part of 2015 kept questioning ‘if some attacks really meant more than the other!”
While I support the FB initiatives showing solidarity and support for those millions of unfortunate who have been touched by the terror attacks in Paris, the question is doesn’t the rest of the world deserve it? Why was the Lebanon flag not on FB just two days before when Beirut lay seeing to dual bombing from ISIS.
When France can go ahead and bomb Raqqa now, why has no initiative been undertaken to quash those forces thus far. Strangely it reminds me of the time of the 9/1 attacks and the world media’s response to it. For many decades till then India has continuously raised the need to tackle the scourge of terrorism on a global basis but somehow it took the 9/11 for US and world media to acknowledge the unimaginable havoc wreaked by these terror forces every single day in many other parts of the world.
No wonder it makes me wonder is the outrage so huge only because it touched the developed world, the Europeans and Americans!? What France is experiencing today has been the story of the millions of Syrians for close to two years now, Why were monuments across the world never lighted up in the Syrian flag colours? Why did FB never think of any initiatives to signal solidarity with the Syrians or more recently those in Beirut.
Perhaps indeed outrage is selective, outrage is subjective and even internet has not been able to bridge the chasm between the developed West and the developing east. The misery of the many unfortunate Africans, Indian, Syrians, Afghans perhaps can never perhaps match those of the privileged nations!
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