(Warning: this post discusses plane crashes, missile attacks, war, and media racial bias)
A plane falls. And 176 people are lost.
These people are caught in the crossfire of a situation far beyond their control.
Iran has blood on its hands. The USA has blood on its hands.
To absolve either of guilt here would be reckless and inaccurate - neither are completely guilty, but neither are completely innocent.
When a country decides it can be judge, jury, and executioner to a foreign official on 3rd party soil, they cannot avoid the repercussions.
When a country decides it needs revenge, and acts on that, killing innocent people in the process, they cannot avoid the repercussions.
The consequences, the blame, the responsibility, belongs to both.
And thanks to both, 176 innocent people are dead.
And I don't know why the British press have spent so little time showing us their pictures, telling us their names
- but I can't help but think that if it had been, for example, 57 White Canadians, that their pictures would be plastered everywhere.
It's an uncomfortable thought. It's not pleasant to admit. But I think there might be some truth in it.
Like 'Missing White Woman Syndrome' the media has a script in any given situation.
That script, or media bias, will favour White people over People of Colour - over Asian people. Almost every time.
But the people on-board that plane were not worth any less than their White counterparts, or than their non-Muslim counterparts.
If you want to see the full list of names, then it's available on this Ukrainian website - if you know of any Western website with the full list, please let me know, and I'll link that too.
...And this BBC article has more information about many of the victims, with a focus on the Canadians who died.
Some things are senselessly brutal. This is one of those things. But those people mattered.
The world is cruel, but beautiful. Take care, darling nerdlets.
Last updated: 24th August 2020
I will say, that the Canadian media has been sharing the photos and stories of all of the Canadian victims, white or not. It has really hit the country hard. Many professors and students were killed, so it was an incredible loss of brain power, people who could have changed the world died on that flight.
ReplyDeleteI've barely even seen the British names/photos - and there's only 3 of them. Still, it's good that Canada has its people's backs! <3
DeleteI don't understand the spite of crashing that plane at all. It's like the perpetrators had no idea of the real life damage they would do. I agree that the warped British media coverage is very biased though, and it always is. I don't know how we can help to change that? Is there actually a reliable news broadcaster in Britain any more?
ReplyDeleteI totally believe that it was an accident and the Iranians got jumpy and thought it was a US fighter plane. I know some people don't think so, but I feel like the Iranians would have no motive whatsoever to bring down that plane.
DeleteWe help to change that by speaking. By pointing out the biases, by educating ourselves about Media. We change it by *being* the change - by saying 'these people mattered just as much as you or me.'
I find the BBC to be releatively reliable, but even they've dropped the ball a lot lately.
*relatively - typing too fast: fingers falling over themselves! <3
DeleteI was unpleasantly surprised to see how little of this I heard of in the news or on social media... so many lives lost :( It was incredibly sad.
ReplyDeleteI know - people seem more concerned with blaming each other than with admitting both sides were to blame and focussing on the lives lost :( <3
DeleteI agree with everything you said. As always in war and politics, it's the innocent people who always suffer, not those who instigate the conflicts and fan the flames.
ReplyDeleteSo true :( <3
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