Boston Marathon Explosions

[CHOULO19 24,332]

But...the media where? In the US and in Europe of course they're going to cover it more. If they are covering it more in Lebanon than they do the Syrian crises, then that's astonishing. If the media gave more coverage to people dying from hunger in Africa, nothing would happen. The coverage of starvation in Africa has been going on for as long as I can remember and longer. Is there anybody who doesn't know that there is massive hunger in much of Africa? There have been concerts, rallies, charities galore and all of it has amounted to nothing. People like to think of the media (and society in general) as top-down whereas generally, it's just capitalist. The stories that get covered are the stories that interest people. The news has a lot of power, but its power is also limited. It can't dictate what interests people and in the West, it has to fight for attention and gear its news to that. It can show horrible images and people will think "that's sad" and then turn the channel to watch a football match or celebrity gossip. If there were any sort of market for the sort of news you'd like to see, it would have happened but there isn't and it isn't a conspiracy. It's human nature.

Yes, in fact, those explosions did get more media coverage, in Lebanon, than the Syrian crisis today. And in the whole world for that matter. I was not criticizing the American media, it's only normal they cover this, but the world media. And no, I don't think the coverage for the starvation crisis in Africa is enough. Millions of people have no idea of the graveness of the issue r how many people are dying each day. And I don't think the media shows what the masses want to see, but rather the masses want to see what the media shows them. Anyways, let's just drop the subject..

[manpe 10,861]

Why does it have so much coverage instead of Middle Eastern or African conflicts? It's pretty straightforward. Those countries are in state of war, such things are already standard there and everybody knows something bad is cooking. Also, it's the USA. They control the biggest media outlets in the world, what happens in America sells more newspapers and gains more viewers than anything else for many reasons. Also, USA is not a country with a war on its soil, such attacks are rare and the 'unknown' behind it (who did it? why they did it? how they did it?) attracts big attention.

Meanwhile, I wonder if the States will find some "terrorist organization" from Iran or some shit responsible behind it and invade the country? Time will tell.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

They aren't worth more - we just care more in this country about them because we have deep cultural ties with America. In fact America and Britain simply garner more attention in the news because they have a greater cultural reach.

I'm sorry if this is the first you're learning of this, since in a thread about a possible terrorist attack your confusion reached such proportions that you felt compelled to ask such a question whilst bodies were still being dragged off the streets, but that's simply the way the modern world works. It's much like the way people from Lebanon spend time on forums talking about English Premier League teams - our lives, our culture simply have an attraction. It's why people take an interest in them around the world and also why some people want to attack them.

So you're basically saying that you're better than everyone else in the world, that's why your lives are worth more and that's why people want to attack you. You write it very articulately, but that doesn't hide how much ignorance is in that post, not least of which is the ignorance towards the causes and roots of terrorism. Your 'ideas' remind a lot of Nazism.

And that's not what you wanted when you posted in this thread? Give it a rest.

Oh look, those people are getting lots of attention. I don't understand why....it's all so confusing to me.

You're not an idiot so don't act like one. You knew exactly what you were doing and you knew the answers to the questions you were asking. If you want to moan about someone, moan about someone like me. I watch the news and the ads in between are targetted at people like me.

Unfortunately I'm going to tune in to events that impact people that look like me. You want to know what people like me see when we see people blown up at Marathons? Asics trainers, Adidas windcheaters - I own those and there were people wearing similar things being knocked down by the force of the explosion. People sadly (or not) watch news that impacts on their lives, or on people like them. IEDS in marketplaces in Syria or Iraq are anathema to my way of life. It's not something I have to imagine, so why would I sit through the ads waiting for the next update on a story about that?

Now you already knew all this, yet you still asked. When we won the league in 2010, did you ask people why the winners of the Syrian, Iraqi, Pakistan or whatever's league wasn't getting the same media attention? Isn't that unfair, or were you able to understand how the media works in that instance?

No I did not want to start a political debate (which I did not), and I still don't want to so that's why I won't explain what I meant by that sentence. What I did want to do, is raise some awareness to a lot more people dying around the world and to say maybe if we gave those people similar attention we can prevent the death of more of them.

FYI, those people dying in Iraq, have Adidas shoes too. As much as you hate to admit it, those people have a very similar life style to yours. You're not in any way special. Most the people on the globe in the 21st century have an almost identical lifestyle. We go to schools, then universities; we work then get married and have kids. In fact you'll find people more different from you in your own country than most of the Iraqi population. You just use the "people like me" excuse to justify the ranking your race above other races. It's 'diluted' racism.

And how are the PL and the Lebanese football league comparable to the death of human beings? The PL is better and worth much more than the Lebanese league. But this is just the main fallacy that you commit in your 'analysis'. You're equating owning better stuff and earning more money to being a better human than others. Well excuse me, but to me, the value of the life of a human is NOT proportional to the worth of his physical belongings.

We obviously share nothing in common in the matter and there is no point making an endless argument about this. So I won't reply to your posts here anymore.

[Fulham Broadway 17,306]

O yea some of you guys are retarded......

Perhaps you could enlighten us with your knowledgeable take on the matter ....or is the Batman clip the superior explanation ?

[Special Juan 28,133]

Perhaps you could enlighten us with your knowledgeable take on the matter ....or is the Batman clip the superior explanation ?

Don't feed the troll, I'm not anymore.

[Fulham Broadway 17,306]

Don't feed the troll, I'm not anymore.

Seems to think its some kind of Hollywood movie

[Fulham Broadway 17,306]

This thread is good in a way -it proves theres much more important things than supporting a bunch of multi millionaires kicking a ball about.

Yes, there are diverse opinions, and discussions about the value of life, but that is to be expected from a global community whilst there are divisions called 'countries'.

[Rmpr 8,977]

They aren't worth more - we just care more in this country about them because we have deep cultural ties with America. In fact America and Britain simply garner more attention in the news because they have a greater cultural reach.

I'm sorry if this is the first you're learning of this, since in a thread about a possible terrorist attack your confusion reached such proportions that you felt compelled to ask such a question whilst bodies were still being dragged off the streets, but that's simply the way the modern world works. It's much like the way people from Lebanon spend time on forums talking about English Premier League teams - our lives, our culture simply have an attraction. It's why people take an interest in them around the world and also why some people want to attack them.

I dont know if I laugh or if I cry...

People watch EPL because "your culture" and "your lives" are more attractive? SHUT THE FUCK UP!

People only watch EPL because of the players it has and those certainly aren't Englsih. If the players start all going to Bundesliga, nobody will give a flying fuck about your league. Put a thing in your narrow minded imperialist head, nobody gives a shit about UK anymore. They just want to watch the players and the players are there because you pay more than other countries, not because they actually prefer England.

Worst of all is you taking that metaphor to the attack level. Suggesting your lives are more interesting than those in Iraq and that is why it makes the news (worldwide news, not only in UK). This is a deeply racist thing to say!

To the bigger scale, just because you drink tea at 5pm or because you eat a disgusting breakfast (which is good btw), it doesnt mean you live an English lifestyle. All the western world and most of the eastern world lives in the American Way. There is no scape, their gigantic influence is right there at the jeans you wear or at the song you listen to or even in the movies you watch. Because of that, Brazilians or Lebanese live a pretty similar life than "yours". I cant see how much more evolved and superior you can possibly be.

You dont live in the British Empire, the World has changed. USA are smart enough to let their pride go and make deals and agreements with the new power group (China, Russia, India, OPEC, Brazil, Mexico, etc), but European pride will just cause enourmous damage. Accept you dont rule a fucking shit anymore and you are dependent of both our money and our immigrants. Life will be easier!

[The only place to be 11,313]

So you're basically saying that you're better than everyone else in the world, that's why your lives are worth more and that's why people want to attack you. You write it very articulately, but that doesn't hide how much ignorance is in that post, not least of which is the ignorance towards the causes and roots of terrorism. Your 'ideas' remind a lot of Nazism.

Are you actually ignorant or is this an act? I clearly didn't say our lives are 'worth more'. I pointed to the cultural and commercial reasons why stories like this garner attention. Try reading it.

No I did not want to start a political debate (which I did not), and I still don't want to so that's why I won't explain what I meant by that sentence. What I did want to do, is raise some awareness to a lot more people dying around the world and to say maybe if we gave those people similar attention we can prevent the death of more of them.

Yes, we know about that. They get mentioned in our news reports too, they just don't get much prominence for the reasons I mentioned.

FYI, those people dying in Iraq, have Adidas shoes too. As much as you hate to admit it, those people have a very similar life style to yours. You're not in any way special. Most the people on the globe in the 21st century have an almost identical lifestyle. We go to schools, then universities; we work then get married and have kids. In fact you'll find people more different from you in your own country than most of the Iraqi population. You just use the "people like me" excuse to justify the ranking your race above other races. It's 'diluted' racism.

Unfortunately people look at stories that tend to reflect their own lives. We (by that I mean Britain) has a long history with the United States and it's people, and we focus a lot on what happens there. You also have to look at other forms of media, be it television and film and look at the massive cultural reach the United States has. The images that we see in this news story are eerily similar to images in action films, so there's that aspect as well. You throwing your toys out of the pram and invoking both racism and Nazism in your reply is utterly pathetic.

And how are the PL and the Lebanese football league comparable to the death of human beings? The PL is better and worth much more than the Lebanese league. But this is just the main fallacy that you commit in your 'analysis'. You're equating owning better stuff and earning more money to being a better human than others. Well excuse me, but to me, the value of the life of a human is NOT proportional to the worth of his physical belongings.

I'm not making ANY judgement whatsoever on the worth or value of a human being. Again, this is either ignorance or simply an attempt to subvert the meaning of my post.

We obviously share nothing in common in the matter and there is no point making an endless argument about this. So I won't reply to your posts here anymore.

Fair enough.

[Spike 12,049]

Today I cringed at people blaming this on USA's aggression towards North Korea. Oh wait they just said 'Korea'. Some people are just ignorant to the world.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Today I cringed at people blaming this on USA's aggression towards North Korea. Oh wait they just said 'Korea'. Some people are just ignorant to the world.

And the forum doesnt scape it.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I dont know f I laugh or if I cry...

People watch EPL because "your culture" and "your lives" are more attractive? SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Again, that's not what I said.

People only watch EPL because of the players it has and those certainly aren't Englsih. If the players start all going to Bundesliga, nobody will give a flying fuck about your league. Put a thing in your narrow minded imperialist head, nobody gives a shit about UK anymore. They just want to watch the players and the players are there because you pay more than other countries, not because they actually prefer England.

Are you one of those 'fans' who is only here because of the players we have?

Worst of all is you taking that metaphor to the attack level. Suggesting your lives are more interesting than those in Iraq and that is why it makes the news (worldwide news, not only in UK). This is a deeply racist thing to say!

It's not racist at all. It's an acknowledgement of the realities of news viewerships. You know those ad breaks in between the reports? Well companies pay for them, and the prices depend on the number of people watching them. Ergo, news companies will tend to give greater prominence to stories that attract bigger audiences.

To the bigger scale, just because you drink tea at 5pm or because you eat a disgusting breakfast (which is good btw), it doesnt mean you live an English lifestyle. All the western world and most of the eastern world lives in the American Way. There is no scape, their gigantic influence is right there at the jeans you wear or at the song you listen to or even in the movies you watch. Because of that, Brazilians or Lebanese live a pretty similar life than "yours". I cant see how much more evolved and superior you can possibly be.

It's almost like America has a great cultural reach - gee, someone should have mentioned that.

You dont live in the British Empire, the World has changed. USA are smart enough to let their pride go and make deals and agreements with the new power group (China, Russia, India, OPEC, Brazil, Mexico, etc), but European pride will just cause enourmous damage. Accept you dont rule a fucking shit anymore and you are dependent of both our money and our immigrants. Life will be easier!

Again, I don't disagree with what you're saying - you're disagreeing with something I actually haven't said.

[Spike 12,049]

And the forum doesnt scape it.

I hope the Earthquake thread gets the same amount of replies. That's good for some reason that I don't feel like typing out. LAZY

[Melanicus 5,208]

My condolences to all friends and families of people who died in this accident.

[Behemoth 266]

Unbelievable pictures coming out.