2017 commenced quite devastatingly for Istanbul when a popular nightclub was attacked on New Year’s Day. Reports have confirmed that a single gunman killed around 39 people and injured hundreds of others. For a while there was some speculation about whether or not this incident was a terrorist attack, but ISIS has since claimed responsibility for the shooting, confirming prior suspicions.
While many news outlets have reported the attack, media pundits in the western world have done little to spread awareness or compassion in light of the shooting and its connection to ISIS. Within the past year, there have been several other terrorist attacks which ISIS has claimed responsibility for, most of which occurred in Beirut, Baghdad, Paris, and Orlando, yet only the tragedies in Orlando and Paris were sensationalized.