Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paris is civilized, mid-east not so much. That's why it's worse in Paris.

Beirut is the "Paris is the Middle East"- have you been there? It's an incredibly beautiful and wealthy city. (For the 1% of course). Living on the sea and ski chalets in winter- maids, nannies, cooks- a lovely lifestyle for the wealthy.

Every city is a lovely city for the 1%.

I used to live in India back when Mumbai was called Bombay. I was 1 million percent horrified and distraught. Contextually--that was part of the age old India/Pakistan conflict and for years I have prayed/hoped/and idealized that Pakistan gets its house in order and becomes the country it had to the potential to be after partition, rather than run by creepy ISI agents in collaboration with the Taliban . I have also prayed that India and Pakistan find some accord in the Kashmir and other conflict zones, for the sake of the people living there.
Paris was an attack on the West - my house. Ashamed for feeling this more? HELL NO.
Thanks for asking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an Orthodox Jew, turning on the computer again after havdalah on Saturday nights is always an experience in trepidation--what happened in the 25 hours since I was last connected to the larger world? The news of this started filtering out right before candlelighting yesterday, so I knew something had happened in Paris, but turning everything back on to see that 129 people are dead. . .I can hardly breathe.

Were you short of breath when 164 died in a very similar attack in mumbai in 2008?

Not the pp but you're an asshole.

Anonymous wrote:As an Orthodox Jew, turning on the computer again after havdalah on Saturday nights is always an experience in trepidation--what happened in the 25 hours since I was last connected to the larger world? The news of this started filtering out right before candlelighting yesterday, so I knew something had happened in Paris, but turning everything back on to see that 129 people are dead. . .I can hardly breathe.

Were you short of breath when 164 died in a very similar attack in mumbai in 2008?

You are kidding, right? No shame here.
Parisian values are a proxy for our values--the attack on them is an attack on us. They were just easier to get to. It is not a matter of more or less sympathy. People are reacting to the fact that WE have been attacked, and there is no end in sight. Your nutty question is like asking Americans after Pearl Harbor why they hadn't been equally shaken by god knows, the massacre of Nanking. It was horrific, but not an attack on the US. It is not revulsion / sympathy we feel. It is revulsion, sympathy, fear, outrage AND a call to action..

The reason why there is more public outcry over paris than mumbai hotel (very similar situation in a democracy) or russian airline is for the same reason why there's more public outcry over 'treatment not incarceration' for hard drug users these days compared to 20-30 years ago.

Think about it.

Anonymous wrote:As an Orthodox Jew, turning on the computer again after havdalah on Saturday nights is always an experience in trepidation--what happened in the 25 hours since I was last connected to the larger world? The news of this started filtering out right before candlelighting yesterday, so I knew something had happened in Paris, but turning everything back on to see that 129 people are dead. . .I can hardly breathe.

It is horrifying. Much of it happened online, in real time, with people posting from insidie the concert hall, during the hostage situation. You can see that by reading this thread from the beginning, minding the time stamps.

As an Orthodox Jew, turning on the computer again after havdalah on Saturday nights is always an experience in trepidation--what happened in the 25 hours since I was last connected to the larger world? The news of this started filtering out right before candlelighting yesterday, so I knew something had happened in Paris, but turning everything back on to see that 129 people are dead. . .I can hardly breathe.

Anonymous wrote:Paris is civilized, mid-east not so much. That's why it's worse in Paris.

Beirut is the "Paris is the Middle East"- have you been there? It's an incredibly beautiful and wealthy city. (For the 1% of course). Living on the sea and ski chalets in winter- maids, nannies, cooks- a lovely lifestyle for the wealthy.

I don't think it's our selfishness. I don't. I think it's our survival skills. We simply aren't wired to understand/be able to cope with every tragedy going on around the globe. We would stop breeding and probably all kill ourselves. It's too much. So our brains compartmentalize and selectively filter. It's a coping mechanism to the horror in the world. This one gets through to most of us- like Newton did.

Paris is civilized, mid-east not so much. That's why it's worse in Paris.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why be ashamed? The Russian airplane thing is horrific, but because details are not confirmed (was it a bomb? Was it not????) I don't yet know what to think/feel. As to Beirut……I agree with PP, I have been to Beirut, it is a beautiful city, but yes, this is common there. Do we hold vigil every night for shootings in Camden? No, because sadly we are immune to it. It's conditioning. Did we react to the Mumbai killings in the same way as we feel these attacks? Probably not quite, because few of us have been to Mumbai. Paris? Most of us have been there. The idea that it was intentionally done to people doing what WE do, (dine, concert, football games, etc) is disconcerting to us.

It isn't shameful to recognize that it upsetting to feel more threatened and more sympathetic to that which we directly relate to. We relate to Paris. We have the "that could be us" reaction to it. We have the "it could be here next" feeling. It scares us. Don't you understand that? If we "lived out" every tragedy that happened in every place every day we would be paralyzed by anxiety. It's a way of coping, to NOT take on every bombing, every death, every horror. This one hits us harder because we relate to it, so it gets in through our carefully placed defense mechanisms. Nothing shameful about that.

Why be ashamed when people get blown up by terrorists in Paris and we're deeply shaken, but people get blown up by terrorists in Beirut and we shrug? I think that question answers itself.

Perhaps it is because terrorist actions in Beirut have not been few and far between as related to terrorist acts in Paris?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why be ashamed? The Russian airplane thing is horrific, but because details are not confirmed (was it a bomb? Was it not????) I don't yet know what to think/feel. As to Beirut……I agree with PP, I have been to Beirut, it is a beautiful city, but yes, this is common there. Do we hold vigil every night for shootings in Camden? No, because sadly we are immune to it. It's conditioning. Did we react to the Mumbai killings in the same way as we feel these attacks? Probably not quite, because few of us have been to Mumbai. Paris? Most of us have been there. The idea that it was intentionally done to people doing what WE do, (dine, concert, football games, etc) is disconcerting to us.

It isn't shameful to recognize that it upsetting to feel more threatened and more sympathetic to that which we directly relate to. We relate to Paris. We have the "that could be us" reaction to it. We have the "it could be here next" feeling. It scares us. Don't you understand that? If we "lived out" every tragedy that happened in every place every day we would be paralyzed by anxiety. It's a way of coping, to NOT take on every bombing, every death, every horror. This one hits us harder because we relate to it, so it gets in through our carefully placed defense mechanisms. Nothing shameful about that.

Why be ashamed when people get blown up by terrorists in Paris and we're deeply shaken, but people get blown up by terrorists in Beirut and we shrug? I think that question answers itself.

Agreed...I totally understand why people have a stronger reaction to the Paris events than i.e Beirut, but you can't help being a little saddened by the disparity. It speaks to our selfishness I think. As long as we don't think it's something that "can happen to us" most people really don't care.

Anonymous wrote:

Why be ashamed? The Russian airplane thing is horrific, but because details are not confirmed (was it a bomb? Was it not????) I don't yet know what to think/feel. As to Beirut……I agree with PP, I have been to Beirut, it is a beautiful city, but yes, this is common there. Do we hold vigil every night for shootings in Camden? No, because sadly we are immune to it. It's conditioning. Did we react to the Mumbai killings in the same way as we feel these attacks? Probably not quite, because few of us have been to Mumbai. Paris? Most of us have been there. The idea that it was intentionally done to people doing what WE do, (dine, concert, football games, etc) is disconcerting to us.

It isn't shameful to recognize that it upsetting to feel more threatened and more sympathetic to that which we directly relate to. We relate to Paris. We have the "that could be us" reaction to it. We have the "it could be here next" feeling. It scares us. Don't you understand that? If we "lived out" every tragedy that happened in every place every day we would be paralyzed by anxiety. It's a way of coping, to NOT take on every bombing, every death, every horror. This one hits us harder because we relate to it, so it gets in through our carefully placed defense mechanisms. Nothing shameful about that.

Why be ashamed when people get blown up by terrorists in Paris and we're deeply shaken, but people get blown up by terrorists in Beirut and we shrug? I think that question answers itself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were also a number of attacks in Beirut this week, they were barely even a blip in the media.

Maybe because such attacks are an almost every day occurrence in the Middle East??

I feel for all victims of terrorism but personally speaking I was born in Europe, grew up reading Sartre, Camus, Anais Nin, etc, so Paris hits closer to home than the Middle East. And I will not be made to feel ashamed for feeling more shocked and dismayed at an attack on a city central to western art and civilization.

People being killed by terrorists in Paris bothers you more than people being killed by terrorists in Beirut.

I would be ashamed of this, if it were me. But if you don't want to be ashamed of it, then don't be.

Why be ashamed? The Russian airplane thing is horrific, but because details are not confirmed (was it a bomb? Was it not????) I don't yet know what to think/feel. As to Beirut……I agree with PP, I have been to Beirut, it is a beautiful city, but yes, this is common there. Do we hold vigil every night for shootings in Camden? No, because sadly we are immune to it. It's conditioning. Did we react to the Mumbai killings in the same way as we feel these attacks? Probably not quite, because few of us have been to Mumbai. Paris? Most of us have been there. The idea that it was intentionally done to people doing what WE do, (dine, concert, football games, etc) is disconcerting to us.

It isn't shameful to recognize that it upsetting to feel more threatened and more sympathetic to that which we directly relate to. We relate to Paris. We have the "that could be us" reaction to it. We have the "it could be here next" feeling. It scares us. Don't you understand that? If we "lived out" every tragedy that happened in every place every day we would be paralyzed by anxiety. It's a way of coping, to NOT take on every bombing, every death, every horror. This one hits us harder because we relate to it, so it gets in through our carefully placed defense mechanisms. Nothing shameful about that.