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I'm not in favor of the violence reported in these articles, but they are a bit different than the Muslim terrorism going on. Here are a couple of quotes from the Washington Post article about the chaos in the Central African Republic:
In other words, the Christian violence is not simply a case of one group attacking another without any provocation, such as what you're finding with the Muslim groups like Boko Haram.
So when the Muslims are gone, the area stabilizes. Notice that in other parts of the world, areas that are filled with Muslims tend to be the least stable of any.
Kinda ironic how Paris get most of the attention, but then nobody has cared about Africa.
From an American perspective, I can think of several reasons for this:
- More Americans have been to Paris than to Africa, so they can relate to it more.
- Most Americans feel more of a kinship and similarity with middle-class, First World Parisians than they do with poor, Third World Africans.
- Paris is generally seen as a peaceful place (though obviously it is not free from violence), whereas Africa is seen (somewhat fairly, somewhat not) as a violence-ridden place; so it's more surprising when a terrorist atrocity takes place in Paris.
- Related to this, the violence in Africa is so entrenched and so long-lasting that it seems intractable; so some people may have given up caring in despair of there ever being a solution.
- The terrorist attack in Paris seemingly came out of the blue, whereas the violence in Nigeria and the Central African Republic (and other places in Africa) has been ongoing for quite some time.
- And, let's not forget the possible explanation that the more cynical among us would probably rank at the top: white Americans care more about their fellow white people in Paris than they do about black people in Africa.
Fair or not, but any or all of these could explain why there is more attention being given to Paris than to Africa.
For what it's worth, I am perfectly capable of caring about both places at the same time. I have been to Paris, and fell in love with it; so it grieves me to see her people suffer. I've never been to Africa, but I do have friends there, including in Nigeria; and I fear for their safety and shudder to think of their country being threatened by the Boko Haram savages.
From an American perspective, I can think of several reasons for this:
- More Americans have been to Paris than to Africa, so they can relate to it more.
- Most Americans feel more of a kinship and similarity with middle-class, First World Parisians than they do with poor, Third World Africans.
- Paris is generally seen as a peaceful place (though obviously it is not free from violence), whereas Africa is seen (somewhat fairly, somewhat not) as a violence-ridden place; so it's more surprising when a terrorist atrocity takes place in Paris.
- Related to this, the violence in Africa is so entrenched and so long-lasting that it seems intractable; so some people may have given up caring in despair of there ever being a solution.
- The terrorist attack in Paris seemingly came out of the blue, whereas the violence in Nigeria and the Central African Republic (and other places in Africa) has been ongoing for quite some time.
- And, let's not forget the possible explanation that the more cynical among us would probably rank at the top: white Americans care more about their fellow white people in Paris than they do about black people in Africa.
Fair or not, but any or all of these could explain why there is more attention being given to Paris than to Africa.
For what it's worth, I am perfectly capable of caring about both places at the same time. I have been to Paris, and fell in love with it; so it grieves me to see her people suffer. I've never been to Africa, but I do have friends there, including in Nigeria; and I fear for their safety and shudder to think of their country being threatened by the Boko Haram savages.
Good post.
There are too many differences between Nigeria and Paris to name. But the similarity is that both places are enduring terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists.
My gosh, if I changed my FB profile picture or flew a flag for every country suffering under radical Islamist ideology or terrorist attacks, I'd be busy all day and all night, every day and every night, indefinitely.
Ummm, Boko Haram has been dispatching suicide bombers four at a time for months and months. They've hit Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon - all quite frequently. The only thing unusual about this bombing is that it is their first in three weeks - something of a hiatus.
Boko Haram means, literally, 'western education is forbidden.' While they do practice a really fundamentalist form of Islam, they are really all about power and control over territory and populations. And many of them, like their leader, are psychopaths. I've always considered them as the Nigerian version of the Lords Resistance Army (another group of psychopaths running around a different part of Africa, but who are not Islamists).
In my opinion, they swore their allegiance to IS only in exchange for cash, weapons and training. If it came down to who they were going to obey, they'd obey their own leader over Caliph al-Baghdadi.
"Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)At least 31 people were killed and 72 others injured in a bomb blast in the northeastern Nigerian city of Yola on Tuesday evening, according to Aliyu Maikano, a local Red Cross official."
Ummm, Boko Haram has been dispatching suicide bombers four at a time for months and months. They've hit Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon - all quite frequently. The only thing unusual about this bombing is that it is their first in three weeks - something of a hiatus.
Boko Haram means, literally, 'western education is forbidden.' While they do practice a really fundamentalist form of Islam, they are really all about power and control over territory and populations. And many of them, like their leader, are psychopaths. I've always considered them as the Nigerian version of the Lords Resistance Army (another group of psychopaths running around a different part of Africa, but who are not Islamists).
In my opinion, they swore their allegiance to IS only in exchange for cash, weapons and training. If it came down to who they were going to obey, they'd obey their own leader over Caliph al-Baghdadi.
correct the situation is largely complicated by northern politicians who also sponsor boko haram at times to further their political agendas. Most recently regular bombings and attacks made the out going leader GEJ look weak and incompetent.
boko haram only loosely means western education is forbidden. Boko literally means 'foreign' and 'haram' means forbidden. In reality the northerners originally wanted to assert the primacy of their religion, culture and values. This was a relatively noble intention given they originally ran a successful political entity in the form of the 'sokoto caliphate' . That more noble original intention has been lost to a desire to acquire power for largely financial gain..
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