Measuring importance.
News stories about the London bombs
(killed 50+, weeks ago): 57,200
I know some will argue that terrorism requires different coverage than natural disasters, and I would agree. However it seems that the sheer scale of the damage done by the monsoon should merit more of the world's attention.
posted by Erin 1:56 PM
4 Comments:
I did some more looking after posting that, and just for kicks, I went to each of the major news outlets I have bookmarked, to see how many clicks it took me to get to a news story about each of the two stories. Here's what I found:
London Bombings
CNN: 1 click
MSNBC: 1 click (halfway down the page)
Fox News: 1 click (w/pic, top story)
Drudge: 1 click (w/pic)
Seattle Times: 1 click (halfway down page)
Seattle P-I: 2 clicks
India Monsoon
CNN: 2 clicks
MSNBC: 1 click
Fox News: 1 click (small link in "latest headlines" box)
Drudge: 1 click (w/pic, top story)
Seattle Times: 1 click (just under London story)
Seattle P-I: 2 clicks
Again, considering the comparative devastation, sheer number of lives affected by these two news stories, and the timeliness of each, this seems rather disproportionate. At least one source (Drudge) was giving high attention to India.
Is love just?
Thanks for the updates, Skor. I think awareness must be the first step of generating change.
Dan, that’s a big question for just being three words.
Love and justice are certainly not mutually exclusive. In balance they seem to complement each other. But disproportionate justice is unloving, and lopsided love is unjust. I know that you have said that love requires exclusivity which is unjust, but I am not sure that exclusivity is unjust. I need to think it through further, but I don’t think the two need to be held in tension. Good question. Let me think about it for a bit longer…
I tend to agree with Skor. Like children, the less you acknowledge bad behavior, the less likely it becomes (over time) to disrupt your life. Of course, you have to find a way to keep it isolated and away from you.
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