unpopular opinion. maybe.

[kaydeefalls]

First of all, my kneejerk reaction to hearing about London was to flip out a little. It seems like everyone on the flist is okay; I really, really hope that's true, and that all your families and loved ones are fine, as well. From what I've heard, it doesn't sound like people over there are panicking or experiencing all that much terror; good for you. I sometimes think these sorts of tragedies are far worse for the people who don't live in the affected area than for most of those who do. I'm a New Yorker born and bred; I was a junior in high school there on 9/11, and I and most of the people around me got over it and moved on a heck of a lot faster than people we knew in other parts of the country. I don't know why; maybe outsiders assume life in such a situation is a lot worse than it actually is. I don't know.

So, yes, Londoners, you are all incredibly awesome and strong, and I'm immensely relieved that everyone I know there seems to be all right.

But I keep thinking: aren't we so incredibly lucky to live in a society in which we all flip out over an act of terror? Where 37 dead in a city of 7 million or so constitutes an enormous tragedy deserving of worldwide concern and emotion? Any wrongful death is a tragedy, of course; these terrorists are despicable. But damn, we really are lucky.

On June 30, cnn.com ran a story reporting that an estimated 8000+ innocent civilians have been killed in Iraq in the past six months. According to my calculator, that averages out to about 44 people killed every day. Of course, no one on my flist is Iraqi; I don't know anyone who lives there, so I have no need to worry about friends and loved ones. So no one posts about the death toll in the Middle East. Or in Darfur. Or anywhere non-Western, really. I'm not at all criticizing; it's hard to make yourself care about people you'll never know in a region you've never been to, and lord knows I'm no big activist.

But aren't we lucky that our daily lives are generally so...safe?

Comments

[ladybella.livejournal.com]

You know... I was totally wondering when someone would say something like this. It's so TRUE.

Can't say much more than I agree, lol. *thumbs up*

[idiosyncratic.livejournal.com]

I agree.

Yes, it's upsetting & horrible what happened in London this morning. But it could have been far worse.

And you're completely right about Iraq and other places like that. We're conditioned to (for lack of a better word) accept those numbers because of how horrible we're told the Iraqis (and Iranians, etc) are. We're told that the numbers are acceptable "collateral damage" because we're helping the country. The end justifies the means, if you will. Just as we're conditioned that it's not our problem that a child dies of poverty, hunger, and disease in Africa every 3 seconds. They're faceless, thus we're removed from it.

Unfortunately, it is our problem because it could all too easily be any one of us in that position. :(

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of us are thinking it, but... well, it's hard to come out and say it without sounding like you're somehow trivializing what happened in London. Which is not my intention at all. But yeah.

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Yeah. What happened today is just a taste of what people in some parts of the world have to live with on a daily basis. It's sickening that it happened in London, but it's just as sickening that it's happening anywhere else...

[ladybella.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, I totally see that. My dad actually survived the Blitz living in London as a kid, watching dogfights, etc. Even had his school bombed. Life went on then while the rest of the world was worried. Perhaps you just have to be there to really know what it's like.

[airgiodslv.livejournal.com]

YES. I remember us sort of bonding over - or at least discussing - this situation with 9/11 as well. How everything got blown way out of proportion and we were so righteously outraged when there were people dying every day in countries across the oceans, from terrorism or goverment or simple poverty. We are hella lucky, and we should always remember that. And for everyone's sakes, remember the real meaning of the word "justice".

[rodneyscat.livejournal.com]

But aren't we lucky that our daily lives are generally so...safe?

True. And I think that part of the fact that people (me included) react so shocked is because it's so unexpected. When you think of certain places and countries, you expect danger. When I think of London, I think about holiday and the people I know living there. Seeing a London bus ripped apart by a bomb looks like something that can't be real.

It always makes me think of how it must be to live in that kind of danger every day. To be born in it, and never know anything else.

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[kaydeefalls.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I was shocked by the London news -- actually, wondered why no one in my workplace was discussing it. But yeah.

[ldmoonflower.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I heard Ms. Brand didn't freak out on 9/11, what with her being from Ireland and used to it, and told her students as much.

Also, e-mail me your address? I have stuff I bought with you in mind that never got to you because I haven't seen you since last summer . . . may as well send them as a belated birthday present.