I agree. The CCP fears any organised large groups that have a different ideology and which represent an alternative power structure to them. They did the same with Falun Gong and Tibet . To a lesser extent they have also been squeezing Hong Kong and Christian churches. Make no mistake they would do the same in Taiwan.
In the case of Xinjiang, they want to destroy Xinjiang people’s Islamic culture and ethnic pride and autonomy as their strong identity (which goes beyond the Chinese state) means they cannot be easily ‘controlled’ and told what to say and believe. There have been some terrorist attacks and extremism but that is no excuse to turn their land into an open air prison.
I think it’s more about the level of coverage one event gets. Christians, atheist, Jews, other Muslims, lgbt and women are regularly targeted by Islamic groups. But you rarely hear about them on the news. Theres going to be some virtue signaling all around and some advocating political interests that slowly dissolve basic western liberties in the name of protecting the oppressed Muslim minorities. When Islamic groups and Muslims regularly oppress and persecute pretty much every one else.
Most of the massacres of Christians are happening in nations like Nigeria. Should it be covered more? Yes. But that’s not evidence of an anti-Christian slant, but rather evidence of a pro-western slant. The media tends not to cover mass casualty events much unless it’s happening in a first world country. Plenty of Muslims are killed there too, and it’s also not covered.
Not just Christians. Jews, apostates, lgbt, women are persecuted. Like actually they are literally persecuted daily fearing for their lives. You don’t see MSM touching that subject. But they’ll play this one all day long. Not saying this disgusting act doesn’t deserve every bit of condemnation it gets. But I already know how this turns out with politicians and these types to virtue signal with some BS on dissolving western liberties. Next it’ll be a crime to think negatively about Islam.
White nationalism is stupid. But did it cause these numbers in the past 30 days. 115 Islamic attacks in 20 countries, in which 827 people were killed and 818 injured.
A guy I met who is a refugee in Italy escape Nigeria from Muslim persecution. They fear for their lives daily. It got so bad he escaped through Libya. Imagine being persecuted so badly you go into Libya to escape.
@Andrew0409 You are correct , but even making that point will incur the shouts of “whataboutism”, no matter how relevant. It is a tragedy , and the fact that an estimated 90,000 Christians were killed in 2016 alone, and 1500 years of Christianity wiped out in some Countries , is not as Newsworthy as this , or indeed some second rate Actor being supposedly attacked in Chicago .
I think this attack in NZ is cowardly and inexcusable .
Events in Africa are often underreported or misrepresented in the media we consume. I read an interesting article about this recently; it isn’t specifically about the killing of Christians, just about the way the deaths of African people are treated in the news generally, but I think some of what’s said here is still relevant.
It’s not that the media doesn’t care about Christians being killed — it’s that, sadly, they aren’t the “right color” Christian for them, or rather they are not from the “right country.”
Not really. The Nigerian Muslims aren’t responding to any Christian attack. Anyway the numbers are way lopsided.
Yes. Ask yourself–why was New Zealand, but not Nigeria, deemed newsworthy? Was it just a “man bites dog” situation? Is it because NZ is mostly white and anglophone? Did NZ better accord with the left-liberal prejudices of American media people, who see the world through the lens of the American civil rights movement?
Every country focusses on its own citizens when there is a tragedy. For balance, we would need to see how Ethiopian or Kenyan media outlets reported the disaster. I doubt they led with the American deaths. Of course the Washington Post would lead with the American deaths.
Then, when a media outlet leads with a picture of three dead Kenyans in another tragedy the author complains that this is insensitive. What does she want? The focus to be African victims or not? Her logic is all over the place.
Other than that the evidence she provides consists of a reporter in Turkey and two tweets. And from this I presume we are to conclude that western media is bad and structurally racist.
It almost certainly is a bit racist, but significantly less so than anywhere else on the planet. Yes, whataboutery, but the examples she has provided are very weak to support the belief she has.
A couple of months ago a church was bombed to bits by terrorists on Jolo island in the Philippines.
It didn’t get much coverage, not so much because it was Christians who were targeted, but because it was in a non Western country with a history of atrocities and terrorism already.
Pakistan regularly endures terrorist massacres perpetrated on all minority faiths (Muslim/Christians) but we don’t hear about that either.
Can’t speak for other countries, but the US definitely has a tier system of importance. Their own country is first of course. Then other white, western countries such as NZ, the UK, France, Australia, etc. would be second, then maybe rich or globally important East Asian countries like Japan and Korea, and then things fall off a cliff. If it’s a poor, third world country in sub-Saharan Africa full of brown and black people then atrocities and tragedies often get buried. It doesn’t matter if it’s mass executions of Christians, Muslims or Hindus. It just doesn’t get much ink, if it’s reported at all. This has been the case for as long as I can remember.
There’s nasty shit happening all over the planet all the time. Even with 24/7 news coverage there will only ever be one lead story. This is going to be about the media outlet’s host nation, or at least its majority readership. This will be the same in every country.
Exactly. Pakistanis of all religions are still routinely dying in terrorist events. It doesn’t get reported (much). In Syria and Iraq, people are still dying by the truck loads. This is not a global conspiracy not to report on Christians dying in terror attacks. This is first world exceptionalism and indifference towards those who aren’t lucky enough to be born in the “important” countries.
My main takeaway from the article was more just noting the relative distance with which events in Africa are presented in western media, if they are presented at all. Speaking for myself, having been raised mostly in the US, I barely have a picture of modern Africa. I learned more about it from meeting people who hail from African countries than I ever have from a lifetime of news or textbooks. Otherwise I just hear vague notions about HIV/AIDS, third world violence, and poverty. Or about some big American celebrity going over there and hanging out with children who have distended bellies.
Every country tends to omit or misrepresent stories from countries which are too “far away” or don’t seem particularly relevant to them. That’s pretty standard. Like how could you expect a Taiwanese person to care about what’s going on in Norway? But western media is seen as a particularly reputable and important source for news about all world events. We are, or at least I think we should be, among the world’s most informed citizens. So it is concerning that there’s a big hole in our knowledge about the events in the countries of the second largest continent in the world.
I think that sums up my point better than I could have done.
I don’t know much about media outlets in, say, Zimbabwe, but I’d imagine they focus on events involving Zimbabweans first, other nations related to Zimbabwe next (probably South Africa), and everyone else after that.
Just for reference, how many people here were aware of this atrocity in the Philippines recently ?
Are you also aware that the Southern island, Mindanao, had a war going on and whole towns were taken over by militants /rebels? Now they are being given autonomy , creating a ‘Moro nation’ and have mostly signed up to a peace treaty. I also found out recently that the Moros have justifiable resentment to the Filipino govt, not lease due to huge massacres under Colonel Marcos …I have massive gaps in my knowledge about our near neighbour .
I’d bet many folks didn’t know that even though it’s our very close neighbour and it’s not really your fault , it’s given very little media coverage
The Africans I know are white South Africans or black students from eSwatini and Ghana. I don’t think any of them could provide me with a picture of the continent of Africa any more than a Hungarian could explain Europe. They provide interesting perspectives on their own experiences, though.
Is there any point in trying to find logic or reason here? It’s just pure hatred combined with some kind of mental health issue. As he hasn’t shot himself we’ll find out over time.
