Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Food for thought

I wonder which will get more media attention.

The death of Heath Ledger? (which has already been immortalized on wikipedia and on numerous blogs and facebook groups composed of fans reeling from the horrible news.)

Or the Gaza Crisis?

Hmm.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those Palestinians never acted in an Oscar winning movie. Hmph.

MT said...

What Gaza crisis ?

Anonymous said...

I understand the point you're trying to make, but regardless a death is a death and we should not try to make light of it regardless if one was an actor and other are innocent civilians.
Respect all, remember all, love all

Asmaa said...

Yaser, point well taken :|

MT, exactly.

Anon, I wasn't making light of it. You're right, every life is worth protecting. I'm simply comparing and contrasting two situations that seem to have coincided. This post is really just a brief social commentary, trying to provoke thought as to why certain things are more newsworthy than others. I hope you understand that, and thanks for your comment :)

Anonymous said...

"why certain things are more newsworthy than others"

The point here is certain things are more newsworthy to You than others.

Why did you not compare this to the clashes in Kenya?. Similarly there were blasts and scores dying in Pakistan and other war torn areas...why did you not compare these issues to Heath Ledger?

All of us have issues important to us that others may not realize or have even heard of but that does not necessarily mean one is greater than the other.

Now don't get me wrong as saying one is less important or an actor is significant over innocenet people suffering. I totally understand the initial point and social commentary you're making. However, the social commentary I am making merely suggests its better not to compare why does one do this and not that, why does this news get covered and not that and so forth because there is no clear cut answer. The only thing we can do is respect all and be the agents of positive change ourselves by making issues important to us, known to others.
(Your blog gives you the power to do that)

Peace out

Asmaa said...

Anon, sigh. My friend, you are complicating a very short and uncomplicated post :) The sole reason I compared these two issues is because of their proximity in TIMING.

You assume that I care more about Gaza than other war torn areas? Well goodness, that's an awfully presumtuous statement to make..

And by your assertions then, we should not compare things: "its better not to compare why does one do this and not that, why does this news get covered and not that and so forth because there is no clear cut answer."

Why then, would people ever "waste" their time and effort doing any type of social research if the answers aren't "clear-cut" anyways? That's a little silly.

It's about provoking thought, like I said above. And allowing people to question their previously held beliefs, and look at issues through different lens. This isn't science or math, there isn't ONE correct answer to everything. But I really do think every bit of struggle to learn about society issues is a valuable thing to do on a micro and macro level.

That's all.

Anonymous said...

I get what you mean but I am also talking about timing; The same time & day I heard about both issues, I also heard about a blast in Pakistan on the news, the very same time I also heard about clashes in Kenya. So my point exactly is that for individuals some points stand out over others. Perhaps someone from Pakistan would exactly put the same post as you have but would give Pakistan's blast as their comparison and someone from Africa would mention Kenya/Sudan and so forth.

I do not disagree with you but you misunderstood my view on 'social research'. Of course you need to research it and ask questions BUT what I'm merely contemplating is that such factors are deeper than it seems. Sure, go ahead and compare whatever you want, everybody should to feed their intellectual urge but in my opinion, one cannot say/compare what is "more newsworthy" as you put it because one news item/issue/person may be closer to someone than another, thereby You would think differently as that's their opinion and you have your own opinion...

Asmaa said...

Pardon my French, but what are you on about?

Look, sure one thing might be more newsworthy to an individual than another. But I really doubt that objectively anyone would say the death of heath ledger has a greater effect on us than any and all the other issues you mentioned.

Gaza was an example that I thought people would have heard about just recently, and therefore have more a immediate sense of connection to. I honestly don't know why you keep posting. I understand your points, but don't see their relevance to my post at all.

I really don't mean to be rude, but this back and forth is an excercise in futility. It was a simple comparison, only meant to evoke thought, that's it, I promise :)

The end. (Thanks for the entertainment at work though :)

Anonymous said...

OMG OMG THANK YOU FOR POSTING YOUR REGARDS ABOUT HEATH LEDGER. I NEARLY DIED MYSELF WHEN I HEARD THIS. Actually I just cried, but yeah. Gah he was so cute, and now he's dead.

<|3
PS: that comment above me is very mean. :(