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Original poster

Ukraine attention bias

37 replies

Easymeasy · 14/04/2022 07:06

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-61101732

I'm glad this has been publicly said and a proper discussion needs to be had.
The amount of excuses (even on here) as to the reason people were climbing over themselves to offer empathy, support and money to Ukrainians compared to other countries.

OP posts:
Apandemicyousay · 14/04/2022 07:17

Completely agree.

peacock101 · 14/04/2022 07:21

Agree

Pinklimey · 14/04/2022 07:22

I don't know, you don't know how much people are concerned about people from other war-ridden countries. Remember the propaganda machine is really pushing concern about this war, as it may properly involve us. Rather than send our soldiers off to blithely kill people in other countries with no comeback.

Harridan1981 · 14/04/2022 07:23

Totally

JourneyToThePlacentaOfTheEarth · 14/04/2022 07:38

Yanbu. Agree

balalake · 14/04/2022 07:39

It doesn't mean no attention to Ukraine, it should mean more attention to other events, in my opinion.

lollipoprainbow · 14/04/2022 07:41

Agreed, people falling over themselves to help Ukrainians but do nothing for other refugees.

Norgie · 14/04/2022 07:46

I disagree.

Alexandra2001 · 14/04/2022 07:47

Completely disagree.

The war in Ukraine is the single most important event in the world since WW2, just the influx of millions of refuges will effect us all, then there is the food Ukraine cannot grow/export, which will lead to famine in developing countries/price increases and now the halving of global growth this year.

This is no regional conflict, this is a conflict with a v real potential to become a nuclear war.

So anyone who seeks to minimise this and compare to say Afghanistan or Syria is a fool.

Bouledeneige · 14/04/2022 07:50

I agree up to a point. But I also think that attention on Ukraine is waning as the war goes on without clear resolution so I think time is a factor. And the potential for the re-start of the Cold War or even a European 'Wold War' between the US and its allies and Russia is another important reason why it's getting more attention. World War 1 and 2 had such a significant impact on our countries, loss of life, whole communities decimated it's unsurprising that the risk of it happening again would strike fear in peoples hearts. I remember growing up with the fear of a nuclear Armageddon and 'when the wind blows' - the stakes are high for Europe.

Alexandra2001 · 14/04/2022 07:51

... i'll add, should Putin win, we could see 20m plus refugees, compare to 2m externally displaced from Syria.

Its the biggest movement of people since WW2 and this is one reason why people are showing more concern, its the scale.

meditrina · 14/04/2022 07:54

If it takes off on social media, it happens. It's another emanation I'd fashion, and being fashionable in politics sounds terribly shallow, but it's what is held to matter. I think the last PM before fashion took over (or sorry, should that be 'populist cantre ground') was John Major.

There was in the 90s and 00s a war in Europe, closer to UK than Ukraine, and which produced over 2.5m displaced people.

There was no popular rallying cry to take them in then, and they were just as white and European as this 2.5 million. But they weren't fashionable.

But the race/distance points hold good. The war in Rwanda, which overlapped, got even less attention

SunshinePie · 14/04/2022 07:58

I think it’s because this war could end up involving nuclear…that will affect the whole world.

lemongreentea · 14/04/2022 07:59

Completely agree.

Flammkuchen · 14/04/2022 08:03

Sorry, but I am more concerned about a war in Europe than further away countries. Especially when it would be easy for us to get involved and then for Putin to launch a nuclear strike.

JellyfishandShells · 14/04/2022 08:06

Disagree - it’s ridiculous whatabouterry. It was, and continues to be , a sudden and shocking event that is of huge concern to us and should be at the forefront of our minds.

lljkk · 14/04/2022 08:10

Bosnia only has a population of 3.2 million now, it just isn't as big a place as Ukraine (44 million). The ex-Yugoslav conflict was in news constantly for years and did spawn a lot of refugees across Europe & world. Europe offered instant admission to Bosnians at the time.

After Russia directly attacked Ukraine in a huge offensive, would they consider attacking other European countries with the same amount of force? It's not same situation as the civil wars in Syria, Yemen or Lebanon (which were all over news at times). This isn't a story just about displaced people.

Personally I'm trying harder to avoid Ukraine news than I ever tried to avoid the other country conflict news. Even though others are sadder, Ukraine is bound to be bigger, it means more.

Thriwit · 14/04/2022 08:11

When that says “the world does not give equal attention to emergencies affecting black and white people”, does he actually mean “the West does not…”? What is the attention he wants? Humanitarian aid? Military aid? Political intervention?
Western governments are not giving any kind of aid out of any sense of goodness, but out of political need.

Kendodd · 14/04/2022 08:12

I don't disagree with the white people bias, just generally in life, not just this. This line though

But Tigray province in Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan or Syria are not receiving the same attention, he said.

I wonder if those countries are getting more attention in their neighbouring countries than Ukraine is? Although the Ukraine war could (is?) expected to affect the world food supply and price so even there, perhaps not?

Ponoka7 · 14/04/2022 08:13

@Alexandra2001, I agree about the difference in the impact of the wars on us. However we aren't talking about the war, we are talking about refugees. There's a massive difference in attitude towards the different coloured refugees.

I know her faults, but this has been spoken about on Kay Burley's news shows from early on. She's had different guests discussing it.

Africa is quite important, but we know that they will always have to trade with us, so we don't care who gets killed in the process. It suits us for Africa to be in constant crisis/poverty.

Many experts think that Putin won't use Nuclear weapons, we've jumped on a bandwagon declaring that he will.

Ponoka7 · 14/04/2022 08:17

@Thriwit
"Western governments are not giving any kind of aid out of any sense of goodness, but out of political need."

It isn't just about governments, it's about individuals/general public/media. I can remember the headlines against Somalian/Rwandan refugees. Even our Prime Minister used the term migrants a few times in Parliament, instead of refugees.

Alexandra2001 · 14/04/2022 08:18

There was in the 90s and 00s a war in Europe, closer to UK than Ukraine, and which produced over 2.5m displaced people

Ex Yugoslavia didn't produce a super power conflict.

There was no popular rallying cry to take them in then, and they were just as white and European as this 2.5 million. But they weren't fashionable

Rubbish, Yes there was, plenty came to the UK and all across Europe, there are ex refugees who have gone into the House of Lords/Commons, the surgeon who did my hip op was from Bosnia.

But the race/distance points hold good. The war in Rwanda, which overlapped, got even less attention

Whose fault is that? the right wing media we all read and in any case, it did, huge outcry on why UN did so little.

DrDetriment · 14/04/2022 08:24

Yes there is more focus on Ukraine and there is nothing wrong with that. It's a European country, not that far from us. If Putin wins he could threaten the rest of Europe. The refugees are culturally similar to us. Where are all the other black African countries falling over themselves to help their brothers and sisters in war torn African countries? Or Saudi Arablia and other Arab countries helping Syria? Thought not. It's all down to the west and our fault for being 'racist' if we don't send billions in aid to them and open our gates to millions of refugees across the world.

Kendodd · 14/04/2022 08:30

I don't know about those conflicts but I do remember multiple thread on here about how to help and house, in our own homes, refugees from Syria and Afghanistan. There were plenty of posters on those thread accusing people of only wanting to help brown people and not giving a shit about white people here in the UK if they were homeless, not offering spare rooms to them. I used to get quite pissed off with posters on the Ukraine threads calling racism saying people didn't give a shit about brown refugees or offer there homes to them because they did and there were loads of thread talking about exactly that. To me it rather suggests it's the people name calling over the Ukraine refugee crisis are the ones who actually don't give a shit about refugees because where were they during all those Syria and Afghanistan threads? Why didn't they see them, were they of no interest and scrolled past? Its many of the same names on those threads as the Ukraine threads.

None of the above is to pretend white bias doesn't exist though.

MorrisZapp · 14/04/2022 08:30

Disagree. Anyone able to watch the scenes from Ukraine and call it fashionable has lost all sense of how humanity works.

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