Around the crime scenes in south Beirut and central Paris alike, a sense of shock and sadness lingered into the weekend, with cafes and markets quieter than usual. The consecutive rampages, both claimed by the Islamic State, inspired feelings of shared, even global vulnerability — especially in Lebanon, where many expressed shock that such chaos had reached France, a country they regarded as far safer than their own.
But for some in Beirut, that solidarity was mixed with anguish over the fact that just one of the stricken cities — Paris — received a global outpouring of sympathy akin to the one lavished on the United States after the 9/11 attacks.
Monuments around the world lit up in the colors of the French flag; presidential speeches touted the need to defend “shared values;” Facebook offered users a one-click option to overlay their profile pictures with the French tricolor, a service not offered for the Lebanese flag. On Friday the social media giant even activated Safety Check, a feature usually reserved for natural disasters that lets people alert loved ones that they are unhurt; they had not activated it the day before for Beirut.
My opinion: It makes sense that Beirut had very little to no media coverage. Lebanon is in the middle east, where bombings are much more common. It sucks, but it is what it is. I would probably delete my Facebook if it asked me to change my profile photo to one that has a different flag from the middle east over my actual photo every 2-4 weeks.
Questions: Can you think of any other reason why Beirut has about no media coverage?
Did you hear about Beirut bombings before seeing this post?
Replies
This is not in your own words. You also didn't reply to student comments.
I think the main reason that Beirut didn't get much media coverage is because Lebanon is on the outskirts of a war zone, so these dreadful attacks are sadly very common. I think us here in the U.S. become complacent when it comes to the attacks in Middle East because with all the wars and terrorism we expect that, and in the process we forget all the suffering it causes people on a daily basis. Paris is one of the most popular tourism sites in the world that we think is safe from these kinds of attacks, so when ISIS conducted 6 attacks in a matter minutes of course Paris will make the news and not Lebanon, which I don't think is right. I had heard about the Beirut attacks on Facebook, but I'm not as familiar with what happened as I am with Paris.
I did not hear about the bombings there until this post sadly. I agree with you when you say that the bombings there are more common so they don't cover every single one. I think Paris also may have covered the story up with its great impact.
If we made a big deal about it, then it would be constant especially if bombings happen there a lot. Yes, I did hear about the bombings.
Just the main reason of how bombings are more common. No i did not hear about this before
I dont know any other reson why they would do it.
I have heard about them before but it seems like no one wants to talk about it like it is suppost to be some kind of secret.