Blaring Horns - Why cant we hear the noise?

A thought on why there hasn't been an equivalent outrage on Boko Haram atrocities as compared to the world outrage on the Paris Charlie Hebdo shootings. My take - 

LIVING IN AFRICA as a child in Ethiopia and as an adult since 1992 in Benin, Nigeria, Guinea , Guinea Bissau , Senegal and now in The Gambia, I can say that India and Africa have many similarities. We have come to live with and accept certain injustices.

What is an injustice?

To some of us, bearing loud speakers and loud air horns is something we have come to live with. Someone spitting or defecating outside our homes or even littering our community.  A few of us complain. A few of us will shout. Very few would take the trouble to actually take on some political bigwig to put a stop to the blatant abuse of our rights. What happened in Nigeria ( Referring to the inhuman massacre of many many innocent human beings by Boko Haram) is more or less a similar issue. Now before anyone accuses me of trivialising the tragedy - let me add, what was committed by Boko Haram was grossly different in magnitude and impact on the victims. But in theory, similar in attitude. The bench mark for oppression differs. In some places, use of force is an acceptable benchmark. In domestic violence, quite often if physical violence is absent, the victims feel this is acceptable as they have seen what ‘worse’ is. In a massacre in Nigeria by Bok Haram, the villagers have lived in this fear for years, that when it happens, the consequences may appear to have been inevitable - just as many others would accept judgment day – as something that could happen any time.

And there I draw a conclusion that when we, or those who live outside the realm of these atrocities, hear of a single incident in Paris are far more engaged and shocked, than when we hear of a Boko Haram massacre! The Boko haram act is almost an everyday event and a massacre of 10 or 10,000 doesn’t tingle your core spider sense. A single lone wolf attack in Paris does. It is a pathetic attitude. but it is an attitude of conditioning.

The West is quite responsible for this conditioning as much as the media is. 

The word is Sensationalisation.

An ISIS beheading is now becoming less and less sensational for the multitude of Internet or news watchers.

A friend recently reminded me how exciting the first Gulf War – Shock and Awe bombings on Iraq - were. The Birth of the CNN of today. I doubt the bombings in Syria Afghanistan Pakistan are even noticeable today. 

#JeSuisCharlie will soon be forgotten. Until the media and the terrorists find a new way to grab attention and sensationalize once again.