As tensions in the world have become more volatile then they've ever been before, it seems as if there is a different death toll coming from a different location every day. Whether it be civil war, gun violence, terror attacks or military coup, innocent people are killed on a regular basis. It's an unfortunate reality, one that we, as a society, have become relatively numb to, unless those deaths happen to be in a western country. When terror attacks happened in France, Belgium and the United States, the entire Western Hemisphere mourned, showed their support and displayed that country's colors on Facebook, national monuments and locations like the Empire State Building. Yet when Boko Haram killed nearly 300 Nigerians or when ISIS killed 200 people in Iraq just a few weeks ago, we barely batted an eye. No one changed their Facebook profile picture to the Iraqi flag and no one started the hashtag #PrayforNigeria. So, why do we seem to value Western lives more than the rest of the world?
One reason may be that mass killings are usually a rarity in western countries, especially via terror attack, so when they occur, they are shocking and terrifying for us. They are especially frightening for Americans because we relate more to other western countries, such as Belgium and France, than we do to Nigeria or Iraq or Syria. Seeing all of this carnage in a country that we relate to causes us to react more to it. Unfortunately, many people in our society misunderstand African and Middle Eastern countries. Because of this disconnect, tragedies in many of the European and other westernized countries resonate with us more than when they happen anywhere else in the world. This is part of the reason why these events receive so much more media coverage and entail a large reaction. It's an unfortunate trait that our society possesses in which we tend to value and mourn the lives of people we understand and relate to more, even though we're all human beings, no matter your country of origin, ethnicity, religion, etc. It seems as if we prioritize the value of the lives of different people over others.
These tragic events are also a lot less common in many of the western countries. France, Belgium and other European countries are at peace most times and any acts of terror or mass killings there are usually rare. When these tragic events happen in these countries it is particularly unsettling for us because we are not used to seeing such dire scenes in these settings. Most of the Middle East and parts of Africa, specifically Nigeria, are war-torn and unstable. Our generation especially has never really known a Middle East that isn't at war in some way; all we can recall is carnage and destruction in those areas. When news breaks of an ISIS attack killing 200 people in Iraq, we barely react because we've become numb and complacent to these acts. When it comes to African countries, to be frank, we really don't seem to care. Most of our society cannot even name more than five African countries, let alone understand the issues and complexities of their culture and society. For centuries we've been led to believe that Africa is full of third-world countries and uncivilized societies, so when they kill each other, we unfortunately are not surprised, because we actually expect it. This same mindset can also be applied to Middle Eastern countries.
Our society views the western world as a level above the rest, and so when terrorism happens on our own soil, we are considerably more shocked, terrified and attentive to the events and deaths that occur. We do not expect things like this happen to western societies and when they do we mourn the lives lost significantly because not only do we seem to value them more in some unconscious way, we also relate to them more than we do with people from other cultures. This is why we tweet hashtags, change profile pictures and display their colors everywhere in support. Unfortunately, when the same things happen in African and Middle Eastern countries, sometimes in much larger magnitudes, we are not affected in the same way because we do not understand these cultures and we do not relate to them in the same way. We have already become numb to the violence and slaughter that occur regularly in these countries. Displaying Iraqi or Nigerian colors all over our social media pages would not feel comfortable to us because we do not view ourselves as equals to them. It's not something the western world does deliberately, but our culture tends to act as if Western lives and the maintaining of what we call "westernized culture" is more valuable than the rest of the world.
Perhaps younger generations can change this trend of ignorance by educating themselves on different cultures and social and civil issues going on in the world, along with becoming more invested into more cultures outside of just the Western culture we are so comfortable with and accustomed to. With that, maybe they will be able to value all types of human life and mourn effectively when any innocent lives are lost. Our culture is very desensitized and with a little effort we should become more aware and invested in the value of life worldwide.
