As I scrolled through my Facebook feed, the news playing on the screen behind me, I was inundated by friends travel photos, recipes for patriotic foods, cat videos and memes. What was missing was any mention of the recent bombing at Ataturk Airport in Turkey.
It is hard to argue that this isn't news worthy or of importance to all of us. The location of the bombing is similar to what we saw in Brussels. As of current reports, there were 3 bombs detonated in the departure area of the airport. Unlike in Brussels, there are security checks before passengers even enter the airport, making this incident even more unnerving. Yet, even worse is the fact that no one has seemed to notice, at least not on social media.
After Paris and then again after Brussels we saw an outpouring of support for the victims. On my feed, there was an even greater outpouring of support for the victims of the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting. While the difference for Orlando can be attributed to the fact that the attack was against Americans and given the fact that every Facebook friend I have is American there would be more a lot more empathy. But although we are all people, France and Belgium have no closer a tie than Americans have to Turkey. Yet, we still see such a huge contrast in support and outrage when people die. But why?
The common argument that emerges when one event gets people to change their Facebook pictures and another can't even get a retweet is that we only seem to care when the people affected are white. While I hope that isn't true, I can't really speak to the thought process of every person. Truthfully, changing a Facebook photo or posting a hashtag doesn't really do anything to stop further attacks and death, but it is a visual representation of how much people care. But today, people just don't seem to care.
I argued in the past that some tragedies strike deeper than others because of our views of the places they occur. When people are killed in Syria, we write off the event as a result of the dangerous climate. In some ways we expect bad things to happen in dangerous places. We don't envision Paris being a dangerous place. The vision of cafes, crepes and the Eiffel Tower doesn't exactly make fear fill your body. This is not to say these preconceptions are true, but to deny that perceptions of a place's safety exist would be naive. But that doesn't make the 28 confirmed deaths in Turkey matter less. Ultimately I can't make people care, even when they should. This wasn't even the worst attack in Turkey this year, but never once I have seen a post saying we should pray for Turkey.
As you scroll through your feed today, I hope you take note of the sheer lack of mention of a tragedy that affected our fellow humans. Question why no one seems to say anything about it, and remind yourself that those people matter too.
