Compassion & media coverage towards Ukraine but not the Middle East/Africa

[babyhaha]

This is something that has been on my mind for a little while so hopefully I'm able to word it correctly.

Since the invasion in Ukraine there has been constant threads about this on MN. This is also something that is constantly spoken about and written about in the media as it rightly should be. This is a major thing that's going on and people should obviously be informed about this.

However, why is this not the case when there's constant wars happening in the Middle East and Africa? Iraq, Palastine, Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan etc the list really does go on. There's still innocent people in these countries that are getting killed for no reason. Now I've personally never seen threads about these countries on MN but as I don't spend too much time I'm on here, I could be wrong. What I am certain about, is these countries BARELY get any media attention from the West, if ever at all. Why is that?!

Is this because Ukraine is a European country and not a third world country where things like these are 'expected to happen?' Do people feel that as the people in these countries are minorities that they don't deserve the same sort of empathy that the Ukrainians are getting? I really am interested to know why there's such a massive difference in terms of media coverage and general compassion.

It's actually interesting because just a few days ago, supermodel Bella Hadid stated that Muslim suffering deserves the same level of outrage as Ukraine and she is absolutely right. And to those who may say I'm exaggerating or this isn't the case, I've linked a Twitter thread below which has clips of the most racist Ukraine coverage on TV and the wording used in each and every clip is very telling. I'd be very interested in hearing people's thoughts.

twitter.com/alanrmacleod/status/1497974245737050120?s=21

@emuloc

The Islamophobia being displayed on this thread is disgraceful.

It’s shocking. People are really telling on themselves.

I wonder how much media attention the Middle East and Africa gave to the Falklands war, or the conflict between Ecuador and Peru in the mid 90's.

Don't forget about the situation in Myanmar... someone is getting away with nass murder at the moment.

Or the situation of the Turkish kurds... anyone?

These threads make me so cross. There is one group accusing an other about ignorance. In reality the world is full of conflicts and unless the country or area has a catchy name, valuable resources or harbours so called terrorists nobody gives a damm shit.
Or, just a thought, maybe people on these threads lobby for their own people. Which makes them no better than the ones they accuse of racism and ignorance.

@Sinuhe

Don't forget about the situation in Myanmar... someone is getting away with nass murder at the moment. Or the situation of the Turkish kurds... anyone?

These threads make me so cross. There is one group accusing an other about ignorance. In reality the world is full of conflicts and unless the country or area has a catchy name, valuable resources or harbours so called terrorists nobody gives a damm shit.
Or, just a thought, maybe people on these threads lobby for their own people. Which makes them no better than the ones they accuse of racism and ignorance.

Actually that is what some of us are saying - that all people are deserving of the gushing and empathy that Ukrainians refugees have received. The pain of refugees is universal. But it's clear not many of us feel that way.

For me this isn't a lobbying instance. Anyone who has fled war, lost livelihoods and potentially family members has my full empathy and support.

It's just becoming more and more obvious, that I would not have theirs. Not surprising but sad nonetheless.

Can we have some examples of Islamophobia on this thread? I haven’t read through it all but would like to see them.

Self preservation - you can't be beating yourself up about the tragedies in the world constantly - I'm old - there have ALWAYS been wars, in fact I would say there have always been wars somehwere in the world during my lifetime without a break. So 6 decades. Should I be jumping off the nearest cliff.
Russia has nuclear bombs - other wars didn't - that is focussing minds.

@Lovingeveryrainbow @emuloc

Can we have some examples of Islamophobia on this thread? I haven’t read through it all but would like to see exactly what you’re referring to.

Basically.... people are racist. The thought of a white woman and child is more appealing than some lone male that has clung to a dinghy. Basically, the world is going to hell in a handcart and this is the beginning.

I do think the fact that more men (or at least according to the media, I haven't seen the statistics myself) have come over as refugees in the past does garner less sympathy. OP, your comment about maybe the family have decided that they should come over and send money back home - to me, that makes them a migrant wanting to come to the UK for financial reasons, not a refugee or asylum seeker, and there are proper channels for applying to migrate here. Able-bodied young men, particularly those coming from places where women are treated as second-class citizens, should be the ones staying behind, defending their family and their country.

Wars and conflict seem commonplace in Africa and the Middle East. I was 15, I think, when the UK went to war in Afghanistan and the problems there don't seem to have stopped since. An issue that has been going on for 20 years no longer feels like news. But a war happening on European soil is news. It is also far more likely to impact on us, both as a nation and on an individual level, than something which is happening on a different continent.

Geographically, we are much closer to Ukraine than we are to African and Middle Eastern countries. In any conflict, I would expect the nearby countries to have a moral duty and an obligation to take in refugees first, and that would likely amount to a greater interest in the issue.

A lot of people were sympathetic to the plight of the Syrians. With a dictator president clinging onto power, an apparently varied group of resistance varying from liberals who would like a more western style of governance to Daesh wanting a premedieval theocracy it is easy to feel for the plight. But a large number of those who claimed to be Syrian have been proven to be Iranians, Pakistanis, and from a myriad of African counties pretending to be Syrians or Iraqis to take advantage of western feeling. As the west has a much higher proportion of white people this is racist.
Syria is an ongoing tragedy. We did not get involved partly due to Russian and Chinese government support for Assad, and partly due to the clamour against western intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, but non intervention in Syria did not stop the critisim from the same people who critisised intervention.

@Fritilleries

Did you see that the pregnant lady pictured in the media a few days ago on a stretcher has now died? Screaming in agony and begging “Kill me now” when she realised she was losing her baby. Your comment is crass. Any pregnant woman in those kind of situations regardless of colour garners sympathy.

There is more to this than the colour of people's skin.

Ukraine is in Europe- demographically close to the UK and central Europe than other war torn countries. If the invasion of Ukraine is successful, then who is next? Poland? Which leads me onto.....

The huge history of ww2. My grandparents were part of that and we learn so much about it in school, celebrate remembrance day. Never again - has happened again.

I will hold my hands up and say my knowledge of the middle East is poor and it has been volatile for as long as my memory serves. I do not know the political history of that area like Europe.

Afghanistan was shocking and I feel for the people there greatly.

The Ukraine invasion feels like the next in a series of destabilising global events with a potential huge knock on effect on the world and the potential to blow up into ww3 with nuclear weapons.

[quote Tillsforthrills]@Fritilleries

Did you see that the pregnant lady pictured in the media a few days ago on a stretcher has now died? Screaming in agony and begging “Kill me now” when she realised she was losing her baby. Your comment is crass. Any pregnant woman in those kind of situations regardless of colour garners sympathy.[/quote]
I fear you missed the sarcasm within my initial point. That poor woman and baby, regardless of who they are, should never have died. My point is that the government is clamouring over themselves to 'help" when there are already hundreds and thousands of displaced and lost people who also need help. It's the "optics" that stink. Nobody wins. It is utterly gut wrenching how awful people can be.