As I listen to the news and hear the numbers of fatalities in Nice, France increase by the hour, I can't help but think about how small this number is in comparison to other terroristic attacks in other regions of the country. With even such a high death toll, it pales in comparison to the numbers that countries in the Middle East and other parts of the world suffer.
While no number should negate the sadness of those who have lost lives or the grief the nation of France is feeling, there is an important lesson here. The news and media are blowing up on this story. Famous actors and singers are tweeting their condolences. All of these things are expected when such a terrible event has unfolded. But where was this attention when others were killed? When hundreds innocently lost their lives? The stories we never hear of often occur in forgotten countries. The question remains, why do we only have Facebook filters and high news media coverage on terror attacks that happen in the West?
While researching this topic, I was amazed and horrified to find out about how many attacks I had not even heard of. Unless you are an avid watcher of CNN news or a reader of online news sources, it is unlikely that you have heard of these either.
187 dead from a suicide bombing in Baghdad at the beginning of the month. 20 hostages dead in Bangladesh after ISIS gunmen raided a popular cafe. These unfortunate events unfolded in just the last month alone.
Since the start of 2015, approximately 28,000 people have died at the hands of a terrorist attack in regions of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. I can't remember the last time I heard of a terrorist attack in Asia, if ever. If I had, it certainly didn't get the attention that America and the Western countries have drawn. In comparison to the 28,000 lives that the rest of the world has lost, America and Europe have lost 658.
This article is in no ways meant to diminish the importance of lives lost in the recent attack in Nice, or any other attack on American and European soil. It is unacceptable that any life should be taken, especially at the hands of cowardly bullies wanting to incite terror. Instead, the purpose of my article is to open your eyes to another part of the world you may not be paying much attention to. You may not even know, very much like I did not, that you are missing out on these attacks in other countries. You may not know about the 28,000 lives that have been lost in the last year and a half, like I did not.
What these victims and their families deserve is what the other victims and families deserve; recognition. It's is hard to fathom that so many lives lost could go unnoticed in the midst of all the other tragedies we hear of every day. The next time you are scrolling down Facebook or Twitter, stop by a news page and check out the latest breaking news. Read about countries other than yours. The first step in defeating a common enemy is to understand one another. In order to do so we must all take a step back and think of those who may not have crossed our minds before.
