Nicho Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Not a racist. Not a racist I just mean that in the way we interpret news, we'd think 20 people killed in an Amsterdam fire is a lot, and 20 people in Nepal would be nothing. But 4000 seems like just enough to pique our interest in a fashion similar to a 10 car pile up in Manchester. It's just a lot of dead people. And because they're of a race where we assume they die in large numbers generally, the news wouldn't register with us until the death count is above say 500. It looks like it might reach 10,000 now, which is 20 times as many as that which garners minimal interest in a Nepalese death count, which should make it quite interesting indeed. But it doesn't. I'm only interested in hearing if the 4 missing Irish have been found, and even at that my interest it only passing. And again people are only willing to engage with the news story in this topic because I've posted something faux racist about it. Yet for those involved each death is massive, but because the narrative for us is just a load of foreign people dying, we can't really engage with it, in the way we might with Zayn leaving 1D. I suppose we can identify moreso with Zayn because we've heard of him. It's easy for us to get more information, but we can't engage with the story. What about if I told you that there's a very old woman in Nepal, whose family have all died in this earthquake. Every single one of them. All her children and grandchildren. Her husband died years ago. She had no friends other than her family. And now she's totally alone in the world. And she's old. And all she sees is panic. And once the aid workers come and go, she's not sure who's going to look after her anymore. It's a nice little story isn't it and easier to engage with. Or a 12 year old girl whose parents and siblings are all dead. And she's just wandering around looking for them. And a well dressed man comes up to her and asks if she needs help, and he says he knows where her parents are, and she goes off with him. And he doesn't know where her parents are. We like news to be sad, to make us afraid, make us hate, or to relate to sex in some way. A death count doesn't pull at the heart strings in the way an individual story within that death count might. A story of a fire in a nightclub will register because you go to nightclubs and it could have been you. Makes you afraid. You read about me being racist about Indian people (Yeah I know they're Nepalese), adds some hate to the story. Delicious hate. Sex is easy. Boy, 16 has sex with teacher. A guy had sex, and it's more interesting to you than the death of 4000 people as a result of the movement of the earth's tectonic plates. It's just interesting that we're all so uninterested Good save, I felt an earthquake in the uk in about 2007 scale not even memorable but it was a shock. Can't imagine the devistation and fear during and the collateral aftermath. Those numbers don't really compute in the UK, the greater the number the less I can comprehend them as human beings and I think that kind of sets the level of the tradegy! in situations like this the numbers become unthinkable and unrecognisable to usin the UK (maybe just me) But in certain areas of the world mass death happens every few years and we are perhaps sheltered to what it feels like to be apart of it other than our tv screens and "that must be terrible" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumerican Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Not sure why YLN even had to explain himself ? I understood his first post via context. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 My friends are of the opinion that that the Nepalese government are crooks and that emergency funds are being skimmed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 My friends are of the opinion that that the Nepalese government are crooks and that emergency funds are being skimmed Yep, a friend on mine was collecting in town (in Nepal) with the chamber of commerce, district office took the lot and no sign of help going to people who need it locally. Phoned me the next day to say don't send them any money. I hope it's not quite as bad as that in truth, but it shows how little faith there is in government and that reflects how much use they are generally, at all levels. I've spent hours shouting and swearing at officials in the local government administration out of sheer frustration, something I've never dreamed of doing in the UK however pissed off I've been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Bit OT but just read through a page or so of the blog in your sig, Danwichmann, really interesting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Aftershock of 7 just now. They're well fed up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YGabbana Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 So sad, keep them in your prayers people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Absolutely devastating. Lot's of already weakened homes under serious threat and already more loss of life. Possibly most significantly is the fear the the psychological effect. People were already very scared, now many will simply not be able to bring themselves to enter their homes, which in itself could bring very serious consequences in terms of public health. I think it will just feel overwhelmingly impossible that this could have happened again, too much for many people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Unrelenting 5.5 this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 And they are feeling hundreds of tremors, taking a huge mental toll. Heard about an 8 year old today who was a carefree, cheeky little girl when I met her earlier in the year. Since the second earthquake she refuses to eat anything, the emotional trauma is just huge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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