Discussion: Why Do We Remember Charlie Hebdo But Ignore The 2,000 Dead In Nigeria?

Discussion for article #233073

Easy one. Parisians are seen to be white.

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Paris is a center of western civilization & culture. Nigeria is not…in fact it is nearly the opposite.

How much video in Nigeria and how much video in Paris? Charlie Hebdo is a media outlet. Nigeria feels like a civil war. France, not so much.

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Why Do We Remember Charlie Hebdo But Ignore The 2,000 Dead In Nigeria?

Because Nigerians are black. It’s another blacks vs whites.

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Location, Location, Location.

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Yes, when there was a Mall attack in Kenya it was national news here, big time, and it was because there was lots of video. And your civil war point is spot on too.

While I think the other commentators are right with their points, I think the fact that the Nigeria situation is still on going is part of the reason it hasn’t received as much attention. The Charlie Hebdo situation was resolved fairly quickly by the French and thus didn’t/doesn’t raise some of the same questions regarding what action we, as in the US, can and/or should take that the Nigerian situation raises.

Duh. Black lives don’t matter in the USA (or Europe.)

Because we might go to France, but we’ll never go to Nigeria. Oh, and those people are black.

And the tens-of-thousands this administration has killed in Iraq and Afghanistan?

(really big yawn)

The media perceives that people in Paris are like us, Caucasian and sophisticated, while everyone on the entire continent of Africa is thought to be black, uneducated, and possessing a bone through their nose.

That Africa is huge and perhaps the most diverse continent on the planet is lost on a lot of people.

Racism is the easy answer. The fundamental reason U.S. and Europe is there is no benefit or financial gain in paying attention,much less caring…

For the same reasons that the Ebola outbreak wasn’t in the headlines for months, even though it had spread to multiple countries. For the same reasons the chaos in Somalia isn’t talked about.

Where does a lot of our imported Oil come from? Nigeria. If things break really bad, we will understand the benefits lost.

I do think a big part of the problem is the Nigerian Government seems unwilling to do anything.

Emphasis on the “western.”

If supporting Charlie Hebdo has been conflated with freedom of the press and liberty, then all those news agencies, reporters, and others who are spouting “Je suis Charlie” need to get on a plane and cover the terror and genocide wrought by Boko Haram. Actual people are experiencing this horror and are telling their stories. But where are the journalists to record these stories? Shouldn’t they be in northern Nigeria practicing the tenets of “Je suis Charlie”?

How much of this nonchalance is simple backlash? How many decades have we all been hit over the head with preaching about the horrors and evil of US (specifically) and Western (in general) intervention/meddling on the African continent? Is this a simple case of “be careful what you wish for”? Not saying that attitude is correct or admirable, but it would certainly be understandable if someone asked “so, do you want us there or not?”

Don’t know many journalists do you. Most of them never leave their desks except to go out for 3 martini lunches and to haunt their favorite bar after work.

Simple. All sorts of media outlets go into frenzy mode when journalists/media are involved. Not as much for ordinary people.