If It’s Not A Western Tragedy, You Don’t Care

By Rex Maverick | April 26, 2019

On Sunday, April 21, the small island nation of Sri Lanka, just off the coast of India, was rocked by the news of several coordinated terrorist attacks on one of the holiest days of Christianity: Easter. The response from the media has been objectively slow, inconsistent, non-empathetic, and overall pathetic. On Easter, Christians in Sri Lanka were targeted in several coordinated attacks that involved a reported six suicide bombers (1). While, as of right now, not many details are known, it is quite evident that American journalists and public figures have dealt with this tragedy in a way that can only be described as cowardly, pathetic and evil for reasons that will become evident throughout this piece.
Here is what we know so far. The bombings in Sri Lanka occurred in several key locations: three luxury hotels and three churches during Easter services. Combined, these coordinated attacks claimed a total of 310 lives and injured 500 more (2). As of now, ISIS has claimed responsibility; however, there is no direct evidence to lead investigators to believe that the group actually coordinated the attack.
This was a horrible tragedy and following the extensive news coverage that took place after the Notre Dame fire and New Zealand shootings, it seems that there is no lack of global news stories. However, the response to the Sri Lankan bombings is pathetic from every angle. American news anchors who obsessed over the New Zealand shooting night and day, now seem to ignore the hundreds of lives lost on this small island nation. The reason for this, I believe, can be summarized in one short sentence. The massacre of Christians, in a nation of non-white individuals, is of no concern to Americans and American news organizations.
Let us begin with the response from prominent left-wing politicians. Two notable individuals, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, tweeted about the Sri Lankan bombings. Obama expressed his support to “Easter worshipers.” Clinton expressed similar sentiments. She condemned the attack on “Easter worshipers,” refusing to even say the word “Christian” in her tweet. In stark contrast, they both expressed strong support to the global Muslim community in their tweets mentioning victims of the New Zealand shooting.
While some may say that it is implicit that “Easter worshipers” means Christians, the same can be said for the term “Friday” worshipers when referring to Muslims. Furthermore, Hillary Clinton began her tweet writing, “On this holy weekend for many faiths …” further implying that her condolences were not toward Christians who were celebrating one of the holiest holidays in of Christianity.
I will conclude with this. One month ago, I wrote, “I understand that the Christchurch shooting was given a great deal of news coverage, considering it is an anomaly to have a shooting in New Zealand; however, that does not excuse the mainstream media from ignoring similar or even worse acts of terrorism against innocent people regardless of geographical location … These stories are covered by every single major news organization and condemned by every world leader. However, when ISIS kills hundreds of individuals in Syria or Iraq, there is no Snapchat filter, no trending tweet, and no Facebook profile picture update … The loss of life in war-torn nations should be worth just as much as the loss of life in Western nations. While we all mourn the loss of life that occurred in Christchurch, I urge my fellow students to take this time to mourn the lives of Christians around the world who find themselves as some of the most marginalized groups.” (3)
And just as I had predicted, this massacre, that took three times as many lives as the massacre in New Zealand did, was glossed over, ignored, and outright treated like it was nothing. I predicted this would happen, and this will not stop unless we, as a society, understand that globally, Christians are one of the most oppressed people groups. Until now, we have not seen a strong sense of support from our American leaders to condemn violence against Christians. Christians, who have suffered for centuries under persecution and violence.
Although the university did email the students regarding this incident, I found it quite disturbing that the university refused to plainly condemn Islamic extremism as they condemned Islamophobia. And the reality stands that Islamic extremism takes millions of lives more than the pathetic Islamophobes that rant their uneducated and unfounded views.

The Mass Media

The Mass Media

The Mass Media

If It’s Not A Western Tragedy, You Don’t Care

The Mass Media