To not want to hear any more about the Californian fires

[Viviennemary]

For a start I do feel a lot of sympathy for folk who have lost everything in those fires. But what is the point of telling us night after night about the devastation these fires are causing, we can't do anything about it nobody can. And America is a rich country and can afford to rebuild. Unlike Gaza where folk have been left with nothing, and hardly had much in the first place.

It's so they can bang on about climate change.

What makes the LA fires newsworthy:
They happen every year but never before in January. The scale is unprecedented and it’s because of climate change.
It’s one of the most affluent communities in the world- yet people can’t protect themselves from its impacts (albeit the numbers who have died are relatively small)
Its a city that we are all familiar with through TV shows & movies
It’s a huge densely populated urban area
The impacts will be felt for hundreds of miles around because of the smoke and air quality
It’s only going to get worse.
Now do you see why it’s been leading the news?

That’s OK then because it’s not going to affect you ever?

😲 these won’t all be rich people. What an insensitive and nasty post.

And thank god they are given it’s going to affect our children in a bad way.

You missed -
Americans lives being affected are more important
(because of familiar TV shows and movies 😂)

Third world dirt poor countries who have regular disasters get no where near the coverage this story has had.
Western lives are more valuable it seems

Wow.

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic or not but taken at face value this is actually very accurate and Spot on.

Pathetic for posters to call this thread USA bashing btw. And I say this as someone who has a lot of American friends and family (Dad, cousins etc). Even if you disagree with the idea there is much coverage of these fires, people are making very good points as to the reason why they think it’s too much.

And no, it wouldn’t be covered like this if it was in sub-Saharan Africa.

US is many things but a victim it is not.
It’s an aggressive, exploitative
self absorbed, hugely powerful nation that does not see itself as having a special relationship with the UK despite what the politicians here bleat on about and many Americans would agree.

I don’t agree. It’s not only about lives lost. It’s about impacts we can understand and relate to ourselves.
climate change is also having a devastating effect in the 3rd world too, with famines and hurricanes and flooding.
But ethe fact that it’s happening in one of the richest cities in the worlds richest country means that we are all in this together.
and it might make people think about what it means for all
of us.

Is it climate change though? I thought at least one person had been arrested on suspicion of arson. Seems odd that many fires would break out in different places st the same time.

The fires happen every year and some are started by arsonists.
The scale & impact is due to climate change.
There have been numerous meteorologists explaining this in reputable news channels in recent days.

Of course not. Blocks of shops get burned to the ground in Nigeria, on official orders, to keep food prices high. People die in those fires because often there isn't a back exit and no-one knows (or cares) if they are empty. Hundreds of Christians a day get killed, girls kidnapped by other religions. There are no safe hospitals because we have poached all the good staff, so women children etc die daily. We don't hear a thing, so it disproves the "used to be under British rule= news coverage" theory.

There are some poorer people, in those areas, that have lost everything as well. 🙄

Its not just celebs.

Well devastating flooding in Lincolnshire the other week is even closer to ourselves, and it didn’t get this amount of coverage of people TV news channels going into overdrive.
”it’s happening in one of the richest cities in the worlds richest country , means we’re all in this together “ 🤔 mmmmm we weren’t in it together that much when it was a poor region
Yes it’s dreadful what’s happening, I’m talking about how news worthy some issues are depending on where and who it’s affecting.

@embolass do you actually think floods in Lincolnshire should be getting the same kind of news coverage as the whole of LA burning down though really?

Just dont watch the news or read the paper and youll be fine. I see snippets but im good without the news of which wars happening now, what place is on fire, flooded, what Harry & Megs are up to 🙄

Over 2,000 homes burnt down. A massive wildfire burning block after block of an urban city, and threatening iconic landmarks. It doesn't happen every day.

It’s not just rich people Entire neighbourhoods have been burned down.
And it’s not like what’s happening in Gaza (or Syria or Ukraine) barely makes the news.

Most right thinking people will know that while it's sad that people have lost their homes, they haven't had their entire family wiped out in one go, they're not being starved , no medical care etc etc, I don't think it compares to the suffering these people are going through, just because we share no cultural ties with them do not mean we can't be disgusted by the situation does it?

There are people saying they don’t care/are bored of Gaza though. So bored of Gaza they make a comment about Gaza on a thread that’s not about Gaza 🙃

I have family within a mile of one of the main areas of fire. Their homes and livelihoods are at risk. Not high net worth people, just ordinary folks trying to get on with their lives like the majority of the owners of the more than 10,000 homes already lost. So, YABU - I want to keep hearing about it until I know the fires are out and everyone is safe.

I obviously know that, but my point is, if you wish to live on (stolen) land that you are not indigenous to, you are silly and ignorant to not respect the traditions and rituals of those that are and have tended to the land for 10s of thousands of years... Where do you think the highest rates of skin cancer occur? 🤷🏽‍♀️

And to think building the way they have on other stolen lands (Ahem USA) wouldn’t have consequences either….

I am watching every minute of it
.I keep saying don't mention again celebs. It's irrelevant who they are they are people like you and me and have lost everything. Tell us about the ordinary folks who are impacted .
I have an interest in US politics and The pickle Gavin Newsom is in . The person who was spotted dining out in restaurants during LD when his citizens couldn't go anywhere. He is totally out of touch and it's his mess. Oh no.one is allowed to apportion blame
Yesterday he had a go at trump for politicising the tragedy ( where really Trump was asking hard questions of him ) and Today he is wrotimg to Trump to visit.who isint even President . I mean how are they going to rebuild?? Schools. Districts
Did anyone see Gary Hall junior ?Retired olympixc swimmer who saved his 🐕 dog and left his medals on c4 news. He is a swim teacher in the palisade. 15k acres are destroyed. It's terrible. It's a huge event and someone saying upthread all our insurance costs will go up
Omg that is frightening!!!

I agree OP. It is a big story, but it shouldn't be the biggest story on the UK news night after night. There are far more relevant stories to people in the UK. What is happening in LA is broadly irrelevant to the vast majority of people here and only of passing interest.

Maybe the people who decide what will lead the nightly news think we'd rather watch that than be reminded that our economy is in the doldrums, that the highly paid leaders of our energy companies have failed to plan for entirely predictable cold winter weather and that our hospitals are creaking under the strain of the usual winter virus epidemic?

I’m not British! Do you really think there’s no come back for genocidal maniacs??? That you can really live happily on stolen land with no respect to indigenous wisdom with no consequences? Climates change. Fact. They always have and always will. We may be accelerating the inevitable. But a lot of the issues regarding bush fires and forest fires come down to over building on sacred land and not tending to it….