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.

I'm sure many of us have parents living in nice parts of the UK- how would we feel if they lost their home and possessions under these circumstances-

quite

Surely even more of a travesty that atrocities across the world are being ignored because, well, bluesky and Insta aren't telling me I'm supposed to care, and if the right people don't know I care about the right stuff, what's the point, yeah?

Yet we haven’t heard much at all about Gaza this week for example. And sadly this is a war that is going to impact our country

Trump could have a big impact on our economy….

I hate to state the obvious but there are plenty of poor communities and homeless communities caught up in the fires too. (If you aren’t able to just see people in need as people in need and only believe in sympathising with people based on their class, nationality etc)

Pretty sure being burned to death is one of the worst ways you can go regardless of if you are in Gaza or L.A.

People have died, and it’s likely to be vulnerable and elderly etc so maybe have some decorum.

‘You’re’ sick of hearing about it because it’s all about you, you, you.

I agree.

Sorry, do you want to me list off all the bad things in the world I wish to see more of in the media? Because the OP specifically mentioned Gaza, so that is what I also mentioned. As per my post, bad things aren’t mutually exclusive. I have no idea what blue sky is and I don’t have Instagram for what it’s worth.

If you’re bored of it go and do something else! I had no idea it’s on ‘all the time’ because I’m not obsessively glued to the news. Also, what’s ’not being able to do anything about it’ got to do with anything?

Something can and should be done about climate change too.

Some fires are natural disasters, some are arson, some are caused by accidents. They have a suspect for one of the fires in custody - does it make it easier for you to be sympathetic to people like me, packing up essentials just in case, if it’s now “inflicted by fellow human beings”?

Regardless of the cause, please try and have a little empathy for all who are suffering in the world right now, not just the ones you deem worthy.

I'm not in the UK and yet every time there is a flood, or a bit of snow, or some other minor event we see it on the news here (and I can guarantee you don't see the same news from here on your screens). So is it okay for me to say I don't give a F about events in the UK?

In your grey, damp, land you have no idea what fires on this scale are like, have some empathy.

You must be a very boring person if you are only interested in the state of Britain and to hell with the rest of the world.

To be fair if the criteria for news was 'can we do something about it?' then it would be a small pool to choose from

What a weird beef

thats cold, part of the news is to keep people updated, otherwise we only would need local areas news

Fair enough. Regarding the OP, it probably shouldn't be given so much prominence if news reporting was just based on what's most important, but it never has been and never will be. Lots of people will click on stories about celebs having their houses burned down.

But it is an important story anyway, because wildfires like this don't normally happen in January. Climate change is going to affect pretty much every human on the planet, rich or poor, and this particular story is an example of how being enormously wealthy and privileged won't necessarily protect you.

Farmers have a whole prime time show mostly dedicated to them. Country File.

Plenty of us fortunate to have been blessed with with more than one brain cell care very much.
Go and crawl back under your rock and don't let the door hit you on your way out darling.

Now I'm hugely sympathetic to Gaza when it comes to the Israel-Gaza conflict, but I don't see how we can compare the situations or write off the entire population affected by the fires as "rich." In fact, the news I've seen has only briefly mentioned the celebrities and affluent communities affected, and has focused far more on the regular, working and lower middle residents whose entire communities have been destroyed in a matter of days. It is a natural disaster the same as any, and it's ongoing; the news is still covering it because forest fires are not just a few minutes, hours or even just one day of continuing destruction.

Today we have been able to see the aftermath in some neighbourhoods, but for others the destruction is only just beginning. These are not all mega-rich actors, musicians, businessmen. This is a city- multiple connected cities, honestly- full of manual labourers, cleaning staff, bin men, farmers, shop workers, and anyone else you'd see in any other town. That's the majority of the population. There are children losing their homes, the elderly. There are those who didn't have homes to begin with, now losing shelter and supplies. Perhaps you've never thought beyond the stereotypes of Los Angeles as a city for the rich and famous, but it's not hard to find some empathy for those affected.

My exes place burnt to the ground. He's not rich. It's fuckong awful what's happening there.

I'm curious if this happened in London how this would go over on Mumsnet.

Most people won't be able to afford to rebuild their homes.

Many had their insurance policies cancelled a few months ago.

It's a terrifying shit show and the lack of empathy on here is pathological.

La has an enormous homeless population.

Elderly people have lost everything.

God, people can be such assholes.

I don't care how rich someone is, suffering is suffering and my heart goes out to everyone affected.

Disaster is always popular. War rather less so.

YABU.

Today it was also announced that 2024 was the hottest year on record and the first to be 1.5 degrees over pre-industrial levels.

I can only hope that this coverage and thia devastation in such an iconic city has a helpful impact on the world's leaders.

Our climate is getting more and more extreme as it warms.

I have changed my answer, because now I do care after reading PPs post about evacuating her house.

I think the problem is the media reporting. Front page of Daily Mail is all about the Kardashians evacuating Calabasas (and who gives a fig).

I care way more about the impact on normal people, but hadn’t really seen any headlines about that.

If London or Manchester or any major city was burning down, would you expect it not to be on the international news? This is a huge and devastating fire in a city with global significance. If you're bored of it I doubt you've understood the scale of it. It's like the whole of central London or Paris burning. Yes some people have a lot of money there but there's a big wealth divide in LA with many ordinary people having lost everything. I already know of 2 people in my network who have lost homes and they're not celebrities.

It's an apocalyptic tragedy. In this day & age you would think they would have more robust measures in place to deal with & prevent forest fires, especially in an area with such dense woodland.

Plenty of us fortunate to have been blessed with with more than one brain cell care very much.

I find it really disturbing that some people have become so divisive that they lose any critical thinking ability & everything is just so binary.

The worst fires in history in a country that is our closest ally is
pretty important news to most right-thinking people. Makes more sense than fretting about Gaza - a place that we share no cultural ties with. If anything our values are antithetical.

You think that the people of Gaza don’t have the same values as people in the UK? What values are you talking about, exactly?