Some pics from the bridge disaster

R

Ron Burgundy

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These were taken by a friend of a friend, really shows it from a whole personal angle

[broken link removed]
 
shocking stuff with movies like die hard 4.0 it looks like shots from the set terrible to think its real with real people
 
If you want to see shocking stuff google Darfur and spend an hour heading the results. Sorry, but our news being filled with a bridge collapse or Maddy what's her name being missing is obscene in the context of what's going on around the world.
-Rant over. Good pictures BTW.
 
That little girl's full name is Madeline McCann BTW and her gone missing and been shown on the news has nothing to do with the issue's in Darfur or anywhere else. It is like we should be all thankful and lucky that we don't live in darfur or anywhere else where the world is not fair. I am glad I was not walking down Londonbridge road at 2.30am Saturday morning, but some unfortunate guy was . Life is unfair for so many people and madeline what's her name is another.You more than likely believe in God aswell.sorry rant over and out
 
Yes, we should be thankful that we don't live in Darfur, or the other places that most people have never heard of where children go missing every day or are sold into slavery (Niger, Ivory Coast, where they are used to harvest our chocolate, Sierra Leone or Benin, where about 50'000 children are slaves) or the refugee camps everywhere from Kenya to Congo where children are kidnapped and abused and/or sold by their thousands. I that context do you think that it is ok that all we hear about is one missing little girl and we hear next to nothing about the rest of them? Do you think that parents in Africa love their children any less that Madeline McCann’s parents do?
Madeline McCann has got more airtime and news print in this country than the Rwandan genocide did or the civil war in the Congo (the biggest war since the second world war from a death toll point of view).
Was what happened to her tragic? Yes
Does it deserve to knock 300'000 people in Darfur being ethnically cleansed while the Chinese held up UN intervention for over a year off the front pages (as if it was ever there in the first place)? No.

...and no, I don't believe in God.
 
Purple,

I feel every bit as bad as you about the people in Darfur and in all the other very unfair places in the world that I think about all the time, hence my feeling that this world looks so much better from a distance. This does not cloud my judgement though on the Madeline McCann case. If you were in her parent's position you would most likely go to the ends of the earth for your kids (its obvious from your posts that you're mad about them), just like they are for theirs. I suppose what I'm trying to say is, don't take it out on her or them because the many atrocities in the world are upsetting you, and me.

Remind me the next time we have a drink that we need to sort out the world (if only it were that easy) and I'm not being flippant
 
I’m not mad at them nor would I do anything differently f I was in their position. My point is that the media focus on one little girl instead of reporting on the much bigger issues. They do this because they know that most people care more about one English girl than tens of thousands of Africans (or people from other poor countries). They know that we do not want to be faced with the real human suffering in the world because it would overwhelm us. Instead they ignore the big issues and run with one tragic human-interest story. I feel sorry for Madeline McCann’s parents but they are no more deserving of our sympathy or time than the parents of any one of the thousands of children that go missing every month.
 

I agree - and it's down to empathy - western (mostly white) people can relate to the McCanns - they have all been on package holidays, to Spain or Portugal and can understand the McCann's background and have some idea of what they are going through.

But the average white 30 something westerner can't relate to a Sudanese couple who have tried to make a living based on subsistence farming while avoiding the local militia's murder and rape squads and getting no help from their government, whose daughter goes missing - it is a life and a situation that is alien to the majority of people in the west.

I'm not saying that westerners don't care about Darfur, many of them (us) do, but they don't empathise in the same way. The media are well aware of this and will cater their news accordingly.
 
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efm said:
The media are well aware of this and will cater their news accordingly.
Click to expand...

I remember reading a survey a few years ago which concluded that journalism were among the least respected professions. Is this true, do people have a low opinion of journalists ?
 
Children go missing every day in the western world too so i don't think it is simply a case of ignoring that it goes on in Africa, it's more of a case that Maddy's parents and those around them were able to keep the story alive and managed to use their media savvy to get their story to remain front page news as long as possible in order to prolong the chances of recovering their little girl.

On a social front I think we feel that we can help with this case, but Darfur is way off the scale in terms of how can we help. I think Purple is right in saying that we would be overwhelmed by that conflict, and TBH I don't need to take in another human horror story, i do think that an element of burying your head in the sand is sometimes required other wise we could never enjoy our lives, selfish I know.
 
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