Quote:
Originally Posted by activeStick
Not sure if this has been discussed already but my friend tonight (white female) pointed out how everyone did the France flag profile update when the Paris attacks happened yet no flags for Iraq or Turkey across social media to remember these victims.
Interesting observation / discussions for sure about the selective importance of victims of terrorism.
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As Dan02 points out, most Canadians can more easily put themselves in the shoes of people targeted at a nightclub in Paris than people shopping at a Baghdad mall. Many Canadians have been to Paris. Or they have friends and family who have been there. Or they've wanted to go.
Hundreds of awful things happen in the world every day. We're only capable of paying attention to a fraction of them. The filter most of us use is proximity. Physical proximity, social proximity. And yes, cultural proximity. I don't think it's bigoted to recognize we have stronger empathy for people who are like us.