Last week, on November 15th, a series of organized attacks occurred throughout Paris, murdering 130 Parisians. A majority of the deaths occurred at the Bataclan theater, when ISIL terrorists shot automatic weapons into the unsuspecting crowd. This act of terror happened one week ago, and for the duration of that week, all major news networks covered this story on a near 24-hour basis. On Buzzfeed, each victim received a paragraph of obituary detailing their past lives. But, I question, why has the Western world paid so much attention to the Paris attacks, while ignoring similar attacks occurring in the Middle East or Africa? Just three days after the attacks in Paris, suicide bombers murdered 43 citizens of Beirut. In April, Al-Shabaab murdered nearly 150 Nigerian college students, most still asleep in their beds. Neither of these horrendous events seemed to warrant anything more than a passing notice.
Here, in the Western world, we subtly associate the murders of those living in places such as the Middle East or Africa as collateral damage. As a society, whether knowingly or unknowingly, we collectively place more value on the lives of Westerners, justifying to ourselves that the murder of hundreds of Middle Easterners or Africans is simply a part of their culture or region. Yes, we should mourn and pay respects to those who perished in Paris, but to place more importance on the lives of Parisians over the lives of Africans or Middle Easterners is nothing more than an international injustice.
Here, in the Western world, we subtly associate the murders of those living in places such as the Middle East or Africa as collateral damage. As a society, whether knowingly or unknowingly, we collectively place more value on the lives of Westerners, justifying to ourselves that the murder of hundreds of Middle Easterners or Africans is simply a part of their culture or region. Yes, we should mourn and pay respects to those who perished in Paris, but to place more importance on the lives of Parisians over the lives of Africans or Middle Easterners is nothing more than an international injustice.