Here’s to everyone who said there’s no problems with today’s media, and the United States’ ever-growing care bubble.
Over the weekend, Hurricane Matthew rolled through the Caribbean, later hitting the southeast coast of the country, running homes to the ground and leaving entire towns with no power. We got continuous live coverage of the natural disaster as it climbed from Florida, to Georgia, to the Carolinas. And if you looked real closely, at the little letters sliding through the bottom of the screen, you might have gotten a snippet of Haiti’s current situation.
Close to 900 dead. Over 350,000 injured, in need of aid, according to BBC. Thousands of homes are nothing but debris, and cholera has been an eminent threat the island’s water supplies. Crops have been destroyed, according to The Wall Street Journal, over 60,000 were displaced from their homes.
CNN International Correspondent Shasta Darlington said aid is taking longer to reach the hardest-hit regions because the roads have been damaged and no one can get through. People are refugees in their own country, living in run-down schools because their homes have been wiped out, collecting rain water, and getting attacked by bandits at night. Yet the only sneak peak we get into all this seems almost typical. Short stories summarizing the going-on’s.
And sure, maybe that’s how news would have dealt with the situation if it took place anywhere else in the world. Except, not really.
If there was a disaster of such magnitude in Paris, Berlin, or London, this wouldn’t be something you’d have to ask your friends whether they knew about it or not. Everyone would be busy changing their profile picture filter.
But Facebook, where’s our Pray for Haiti filter option?
The filter-lovers around the world have been asking Facebook why there hasn’t been a Pray for Haiti filter, just like there was one when there were 137 terrorism victims in Paris, and one when there were 50 dead in an Orlando club shooting. Unless Facebook is working on a priority system we’re not aware of, there definitely seems something wrong here.
Why are we consistently turning the blind eye to disasters happening in countries we can’t relate to, just because the media is guiding us to do so? Are “We are the World” videos really all we can do to raise awareness about these countries?
I remember, the last time tragedy befell the poorer side of Hispaniola, that it was all over our news. With scam charities ran by Wyclef Jean and primetime television specials ran with the sole purpose of raising money being the main of it. What happened? Nothing much really. The masses in Jérémie, and Port Au Prince among others were still living in tent cities half a decade or so later last week when Matthew rumbled through, and not surprisingly mass death ensued.
In a vacuum I feel this editorial makes a great point, but alas, we do not live in a vacuum. If such tragedy struck Berlin,Paris, or London, such cities have proven time and time again they will be back and thrive. Haiti has proven, since its inception, to only be able to survive. A veritable comedy of errors since its inception, and one that has shown no sign of improvement since the days of the Duvaliers.
Perhaps our friends on facebook, who changed their filters for Paris, do so in solidarity with people who have proven to help themselves. When should we expect Haiti to do the same?
E. Class of 2010