Why isn't there the same sympathy for Kenyan attacks?

thatbags Thank you, that does sum it up very well.
It is probably what some have been trying to say (me for one, but in a more clumsy fashion.

And yes, the situation of the Yazidis has caused a lot of people distress, combined with frustration at being unable to do anything to help. Likewise the Nigerian schoolgirls.

That just about sums it up. Good blog and thanks bags

Great blog, thatbags. Thanks for that.

What has happened to the Yazidis is just appalling beyond belief. I almost feel that I have to try and shut my mind off from thinking about it, as like everyone I am powerless to do anything to help these particularly persecuted peope. If I could, I'd pull the trigger myself if it would rid the world of these evil, vile, bestial murderers. Incidentally, I'm not usually a violent person!!!

This blog called "Paris oneupmanship and the self-righteous" puts it well. It's not all that long. Three paragraphs.

I understand your viewpoint about fear and solifpdarity, stillhere , but I don't think it's quite as simple as that. I liked this short tweet which I think puts the subtlety of it succinctly.

Not suggesting this applies here but a lot of younger generation don't read a paper or watch the news. They get their news and current affirs from the skewered world of social media.
I have had long discussions with 17 year old DS2 about looking at world events in more depth than a quick link on twitter.

This article sums it up

I obviously haven't conveyed how I feel about it very well at all - I haven't changed my own profile on facebook, I hate 'virtue signalling'. I feel huge sympathy for those suffering for the dreadful atrocities all over the world, and actually there is no other flag provided by facebook that I am aware of. I was just astonished by the overwhelming amount of visible support and coverage for France. Even quite small towns around here are lighting up their buildings in red, white and blue. Seeing that in my local news item on tv, my first thought was - why didn't they do that for, say, Egypt? Or Kenya? That was what prompted the OP. It was all one big guilt trip, they felt they had to, it was stated that the decision to do so had only been made by local councillors very early yesterday morning.

My own impression is that it was all done out of fear of it coming closer, nothing more. I think it is a huge show of bravado, to show unity. When the bombs are further away, we can pretend it isn't happening for just a bit longer. I just wanted to know what everyone else thought.

Kenya, Tunisia, Sharm El Sheikh, Paris. We feel these things as they happen. Paris is very close to home and we share cultural affinities with the French, not to mention that Paris, London and Washington are picked out as targets in the same breath by the terrorists so we are bound to be particularly affected by what is happening on our doorsteps. My daughter works in London and is now adding to her already onerous journey by switching lines so she doesn't have to alight at Oxford Circus. One cannot but be affected by news like that. Personally, I find the iniquities handed out to the Christian Yazidis beyond horror.

I don't really go on Gransnet very often. Today I have been reading what people here are saying about terrorist attacks and am very impressed by the reasonableness of the debate especially compared to the debates going on elsewhere. I learn from you to think of all the victims of terrorist attacks throughout the world (including Russia). I'm already quite active on this issue but the comments have further inspired me.

I think it's because we identify more with Europeans, they are our close neighbours & it could have been us. Whilst atrocities on the Kenyan scale are appalling it's not something that is so easy to relate to as they are further away and a different culture.

This is for the OP, from @Active_Change_F #messagetoisis
"united against terrorism everywhere", which of course we ALL are.

Well I obviously need to 'get a life'; I have updated my FB profile picture with the tricolour to show solidarity with France, a country close to my heart, where I once lived and was educated. I see nothing wrong with that. It does not mean that other atrocities across the world mean any less to me and I take it as a personal insult if people who do not know me think that and take it upon themselves to unjustly criticise me and others. As for DC speaking French - at least he made an effort, unlike most Brits - good for him.

Thank you, anya.

I know Facebook has been useful in letting people know others are safe but putt ing a tricolore on a page setting is a bit like wanting a holly emoticon on Gransnet. I start to feel get a life. I think the French equivalent of MI5 should be put under a microscope instead of people being 'we're all French'. And if ,as Hollande says it is , war, then can David Cameron please follow Winston Churchill's splendid example of NOT speaking French

Sorry to hear that Bags

I really resent the question posed in the OP. All across the world these atrocities are taking place and they fill us with deep sadness and feelings of helplessness. It's coming up to the first anniversary of the Peshawar massacre where 140+ children and their teachers were killed and Sandy Hook four years ago.

Each and every one of these mass killings, whether by some lunatic fringe group, by religious bigots or by an individual are to be abhored.

But two things are at work here. Our own news networks tend to be very parochial and unkess you follow the world news on a network like Al Jazeera you learn very little about what's going world wide. Secondly many of us have visited Paris and have French friends, and this brings the horror closer to home.

But to even suggest that we don't feel 'sympathy' for those who are under attack in other parts of the world, like Kenya, makes me wonder about the motives of the OP. What's that new term that's being bandied about these days? Virtue flagging...???

I did add the French flag to my fb page and agree with all the posts above that sensibly acknowledge why what happened in Paris has resulted in such a level of empathy and support for its citizens from the majority of people in the UK. It shouldn't need to be spelled out that joining in solidarity with France doesn't mean I don't care about the dreadful events in other countries. I do find the "i'm more compassionate, inclusive and right on than you" response tedious.

Forgive my ranting. I woke up in more than usual pain this morning. The effect this has is to make me feel (vene more than usually) kickass towards silliness.

Elsewhere I've seen such calls for universal and visible sympathy termed "grief hipsterism". Quite.

What are the people who are assuming we don't have the same sympathy for the victims of the Kenyan attacks doing? Have they got Kenyan flags on their social media pages? Are they sending visible sympathy?

And there you have it. This is about visible sympathy. Sympathy doesn't have to be visible to exist.

I'll repeat that because that is the crux: sympathy doesn't have to be visible to exist.

So the question in the title is assumptive and silly. I resent such assumptiveness. I regard it as judgmental.

The France is nect door thing only applies to some countries of course. My answers were off the top of my head. I guess I just find such questions annoying. One could equally well ask why we don't change the flag or some other "caring symbol" on our social media accounts every day.

Pish.

I can think of two answers to that straight off, stillhere. One is that the other places aren't right next door. France is. The other is that in places like Iraq and Syria, the violence and destruction has been going on for a very long time and people are disaster weary and feel completely helpless about such war torn places. France isn't a war torn place and perhaps we don't feel so helpless about defending it.

Does the fact that I haven't put any flags on my FB mean that I don't care about all the places and all the events I never mention?

NO, it doesn't. I would apply the same to everyone else. Don't assume.

Why would they 'kick up a fuss'? I'd have thought that the last thing on people's minds at such times would be to throw a strop because FB wasn't being inclusive enough...