In the aftermath of the terror attacks in Paris, our NewsNuggets reporters spent a full session talking about their reaction to what has happened, and about how media is reporting on the events. Everyone contributed with very thoughtful comments, and much of the discussion centered around how our feelings differ depending on how close we are to the victims of any act of violence.
A young person dying in Syria is of course as much a tragedy as a young person dying in Paris, yet everyone agreed that it “somehow feels different”. We concluded that we naturally feel more empathy with those nearer to us. This closeness is not necessarily a matter of being geographically near or distant. It has to do with how close the others feel to us. Do they listen to the same music? Are we of the same religion? This could explain why people far away in Australia and the USA are more taken by the Paris attacks, than many of us here in the UK were when innocent Russians died in the plane crash over Egypt recently, even though the Russians were killed by the same fanatic terrorists that shot and bombed in Paris. We talked about that it is very human to make these differences, but that it is good to remember that all lives are worth the same.
We also talked about the fact that Germany has expressed much sympathy with France, and that the Germans go out in the street to support the French in their mourning. This despite the fact that these two countries fought each other in World War II, and have been enemies over many hundred of years before that. It is a very positive message that things can change for the better. There is a way to live in peace together.
Another topic that came up was fear. If we get fearful because of the terrorists’ violence, and begin to change how we live, we have allowed the terrorists to succeed in influencing our values and our society. Also, we do not need to be scared because the risk that we, or someone close to us, becomes a victim of terrorism is still minute compared to for example being killed in a car accident.
Some of our reporters started writing about what happened, and we will be publishing a few comments and articles in the coming weeks.
By: The editors