The events of 9/11 were absolutely terrible but why......?

Question

......do people only seem to care when rich (mainly) white people die. The reaction and news coverage of that terrible day was incredible.

The thing is on that same day 3000 people in Africa died of hunger and disease and 3000 have died every day since.

Do you see blanket news coverage of this on TV and people far away crying over it ? No .

Are these lives not as important as rich western lives ?

Answer 1

Because it happened in America to Americans.

Most of the new coverage I saw that day was by American stations.

America is like people, we're concerned with oursleves first, from there it spirals out- me, my family, my country, my world.

What happened, is happening, in Africa is sad, but, I hate to say it, there is not here.

Answer 2

the answer to that of course is no. the reason the coverage was so heavy for 9/11 was that:

1. No act of destruction has ever happened on that scale - everybody was stunned by the event, regardless of how they felt about America.

2. The rich west controls the 24 hour media - in particular this is dominated by the US, and the US has never faced an attack of that scale - see above.


I see your point, but when 3000 people die every day from a cause that has been in existence for all time, it will never draw the level of attention as a singular spectacular (horrible) event like 9/11.

The same reason Jordan got all the Basketball coverage when 50 other players you never heard of were only a few percentage points away from his skills.

Answer 3

This was not a discrimination act from the public media. It was a disaster that was caused at the hands of men and was very horrible. I understand what you are saying but have you not taken a look at New York? It is a literal melting pot of society. Those people who died were not all white. They were of very diverse cultures. The point to all of this is that in both situations it is a life that is being lost. But how often does such a loss occur in an hour alone. We all cried when the tsunamie hit and when the earth quake hit Pakistan. Believe me, people do cry and weep over the hunger in Africa.Being of the lower social class in the United States there is little I can do to help those in Africa. What i do is not waste the resources I do have and pray that these people will be helped. THey are recieving help but I know that it is not enough. All I can say is that I am sorry that lives are lost at any time and that God does not more over one life more than another.

Answer 4

A lot of those people were not white. Why do you assume they were rich? Many of those who died were emergency response personnel, anything but rich people. Why there was so much coverage? Dying of hunger and disease is terrible and preventable, people need to do more, however whenever you have a terrorist attack against a country were large numbers of people die it gets a lot of TV coverage., especially in the country it happened. Now take a country Like the USA, everybody in the world has an opinion on us whether hatred, dislike, respect etc...

It attracts even more attention. Your statement is loaded and a little common sense and research explains it.

Answer 5

9/11 should be considered religious intolerance day.Osama bin laden is a psycho and he use religious fanaticism to for his own need to do something none understands even him.Why dont other countries correct there political structure so that they can eat and go to school.It seems to me most African countries rulers are the problem.Its like they want there people have nothing so they will die.They care less about there own then the rest of the world does.How do you film someone in a place like that when the government owns the only video camera.The dictator dictate what is and who is going on the news.Then walk 200 miles to the phone.Then ask the boss to check out the story.Its a free country in the west IE FREE make the others free.Let others have what ever religion they want and shut the up about it. And get rid of dictators kings and all religious leaders.Then you will see fairness.

Answer 6

I don't think it was the fact that "rich western" people died. I think it was more due to the fact that an attack on US soil had just occured. Something most people thought would not happen especially in that fashion. It wasn't only white people that died in those buildings, there were people from all of the world that died that day. Ponder this also, what country in the world is doing the most to help those people in Africa?

Answer 7

I think you need to watch some more news-somehow you have missed what you were supposed to see.

Every life is precious. But Islamic radicals do not run passenger jets loaded with people into mud hut villages. These extremist do not consider those lives in Africa of any worth. They want to kill white Western Christians (real or perceived).

BTW. Who do you think feeds those starving people in Africa and else where? Not Islam, not wealthy or middle class black people, not china, or even Europe. White American Christians help more people all around this planet that all other peoples,nations, or governments put together. Why do you think anyone would want to kill us?

If you can come to grips with the answer to that-then you can solve the rest of the world problems with ease.

Answer 8

It's not that it's not as important as the rich western lives, it's because the rich westerners PAY for the coverage. There's no money for them in covering the deaths in Africa. Another reason is, it happened here, it affects us directly... whereas people dying in Africa doesn't affect us directly. I know, it's a horrible way of doing things, but it is how things are done.

Answer 9

Not to sound callous towards the dead and dying in Africa, but it seems that this has been going on forever in Africa with no appreciable end in sight. Between corrupt political regimes and internal tribal fighting, it almost appears that life there is unimportant. It's not, but that's how it gets portrayed by the media.

True, the actions in Darfur is appalling, but it doesn't stir interest.

Terrorist planes crasing into buildings is certainly more dramatic, as it is an external force at play. People dying from lack of medical assistance is more a political policy.

Answer 10

Every life, regardless of race or location, is equally important. I am sorry that so many people are dying in Africa of hunger and disease. I wish that simple news coverage could resolve that problem. I think foreigners watch too much American television and develop a distorted view of our "power" in the world. It is only logical that western televisions stations will cover western stories.

Answer 11

No the lives in africa are not as important as the lives in america from our point of view. The lives of africa are more important then the lives in america, from africas point of view. Untill there are no poor, no hungry, and no homeless people in america, I could not care less what happens to the folks in africa, or any other country. We should watch them die and starve and say what a pity, untill we fix our own country. Then worry about the rest of the world.