During last weeks foiled bomb blasts in London I found myself sitting scanning my television for hours altogether checking to see if there was any loss of lives in the dastardly terrorist act. I kept scanning the web for any news updates on the story hoping that it wouldn't be as bad as the previous terrorist strike. It was in one of those moments that I started to wonder why similar incidents going on in India fail to attract similar attention from me. I wondered when I had slipped into such a state of indifference that in case I read a story about people being killed in the north east by a Bodo attack, or in Assam by Ulfa militants or in Kashmir by the cross border terrorists I don't even bother reading into the story. Have I become immune to such news to such an extent that it fails to evoke nothing more than a 'not another one of those attacks'. In fact how can I even become immune to loss of human lives especially when its the lives of our countrymen and soldiers who so zealously protect our country. Have I actually begun to differentiate between the loss of lives in a place like USA or Britain say compared to India or Palestine. It was actually the guilt of all these emotions that made me actually pen down my feelings and let it be a note to self for all future purposes.
I really don't know about all you people but any of you have somehow degraded into thinking alike me I guess you should also be taking a long hard look at your outlook towards the issues addressed above.
9 comments:
In today's world of "Marketing" & "Lobbying", the one who rings loudest is the one who lasts longest..
CNN bombards us with news from London every 5 minutes, whereas it never tells anything abt militant attacks in Kashmir. I think u shouldn't blame urself for the attitude.....rather it's the media which is controlling you...
@Pointy I really tried hard to console myself with that line of thought but its not the real reason is it? Dont u think that somewhere there is a lack of concern and that we have grown colder, probably immune coz of seeing so many of such reports as we have grown up in India.
if it is of any help , after the 9/11 attack n London blasts named as 7/7 -i felt it was hyped up , instead of focusing so much on the attaks they must on the attackers!
It is probably because you are checking the US version of the news. But the global version of bbc also focus on blasts/attacks in US,UK, Iraq.Sadly, i also find myself not affected by any attacks in kashmir/assam. It is a matter of getting accustomed to things. From school days, i have been hearing attacks on kashmir. I find it surprising that the prime minister/president expresses grief/shock over the attacks; it is probably more of a daily routine for the president.
The sheer number of persons killed here daily makes us inure. And the more of any thing, the less becomes its value. We have more than enough mankind in our country.
@Swathi A very valid point that, how come such things happen everyday in India and dont get any coverage in the western world forget abt any hype
@Totti U just helped me exaggerate my precise point when u used words like 'getting accustomed to' and 'daily routine' to describe the deaths of individuals without realizing the sea change it makes to the families and relatives of the deceased
@Jinguchakka How can sheer numbers of ppl killed make us inure, isnt it time that we realised that every individual death brings despair and lifelong sadness to so many connected to those indivuals. And I am sorry but I found the statement 'We have more than enough mankind in our country'
very very inconsiderate and devoid of any apathy.
True. It is really bad that there are multiple places in india where people are victims of terrorist activities. pointy's point is quite relevant of bringing it into the right light and just refusing to put up with such actions.
A life is still a life for everyone i guess, its not a question about life any more. Its a question about NEWS ! is it news enough to catch ur attention or is it just another daily routine. cause I still think that its not being incosiderate or more sensitive towards events in west. I remember following closely when things started to happen in iraq, not any more, its routine.... same thing in India, kashmir is more of a routine if there are like 5-6 deaths, i guess even stastically, its a routine number, but if there is to ba a larger attack it will catch all my attention. even a small bomb in a place say delhi, where these things are not routine will have a similar effecton me as one in London, remember parliament attack and the akshardham ? So I think for most of us indians atleast, its not the difference between desi and videshi, its more about what u have become used to. Another such thing would be railway accident, a small one in India is routine, in west it would be an anomaly, and it sure would catch my attention. As far as the news coverage goes,hell, eveyone knows that third world can never get the same coverage internationally if US is not involved there(iraq and afgan). African massacres of tens of thousands go unreported, forget about a few deaths in India.
@Totti nicely stated
@Chilli How can we get 'used to' something as gruesome as death, u think we have somewhere down the line grown insensitive as a nation to things like these incidents?
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